Another ChelseaxVaughn Story
by eighttails
Summary: A story about how a farmer girl changes the life of a grumpy cowboy! Will he change for the better? Read and find out! Please review! Story is better than summary I hope Rated T to be safe!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon in any way shape or form!

A/N: Hi guys I'm Eighttails and this is my first story and I'm totally open for any critique you have, just no flames please! I hope you enjoy this! This is in SI just so you know, because I like that game better. I like Velsea and other pairings too!

Chelsea had been on Sunshine Islands for almost one season, and she was doing pretty well. She had some turnips growing in her fields and had some extra gold from her other shipments of turnips. She really wanted to build a barn and chicken house so that she could start raising animals. Plus, she had made friends with most of the archipelago's inhabitants. She was going to finish watering her turnips and go and see her new friend Julia, who was the daughter of the animal shop's owner, Mirabelle.

Chelsea had grown up in Forget-Me-Not Valley and her parents were farmers too. Chelsea sighed. Her parents had passed a while ago, trying to save the farm during a typhoon, but to no avail. She was only thirteen when it happened. She smiled at the memory of her family and went on with her work.

Chelsea left Ranch Island and went into the main part of the small community that had been there when she washed up on the shores of the Sunshine Islands. She spotted another one of her friends, Natalie.

"Hey, Chelsea!" Natalie greeted as she was doing her work.

"Morning, Nat!" Chelsea waved as she went on her way, hearing Natalie yell at her brother for messing up again.

Chelsea went into the animal shop and Julia was there to meet her.

"Thank the Goddess you're here! I need your help with something!" Julia tugged Chelsea to the kitchen, revealing the mess all over.

Chelsea giggled; Julia must have made another attempt at cooking. "Julia, you know that food isn't the only way to a man's heart, especially Elliot's."

Julia sighed, tucking a blonde lock behind her ear. "I know, but I don't know what else to give him for his birthday! It's tomorrow- you know that, right? I need to get these stir-fried veggies right!" she groaned.

"Jules, you don't have to do _anything_ to impress Elliot – he fawns over you every time you walk by. Taro thinks you're the reason he's such a klutz." Chelsea grinned.

Julia smiled. "I guess I could just take him out to the Diner or something…"

"There's an idea!"

"Well, since I have that all figured out, there's this mess to clean up and you just so happen to be here…" Julia looked at Chelsea hopefully.

"Jules…"

"Please?"

"Fine, but you totally owe me one."

"Yay!"

It took minutes to put the leftover ingredients away, but it took almost an hour to get the burnt bits off the frying pans.

"Jules, what did you use to fry these?"

"Um, oil? I left the room for a few minutes because my mom was out and the phone rang and…"

"_Jules!_" Chelsea groaned, but she wanted to laugh at the other girl for being so forgetful.

"I'm sorry! It's just that the call took a while because my cousin is coming to the Islands to do business and that we had to set up a schedule for him to come here and go back to the city every week." Julia sighed.

"You don't sound too excited about him coming." Chelsea wondered what kind of guy Julia's cousin was for Julia not to like him.

"He's kind of a downer, I mean, he never went to any school parties or dances, and he would just sit in a corner at my birthday parties!" Julia frowned.

Chelsea laughed. "You're holding a grudge over a bunch of parties? How old are you again?"

"It's not funny, Chels!" Julia pouted.

"Alright, I get it. There, I'm done cleaning. I gotta go now, I think I have just enough money for a chicken coop."

"That's great, Chels! 'Cause my cousin's gonna be the animal dealer here. Come by tomorrow morning an I'll introduce you." Julia said.

Chelsea was very happy at the moment – she was going to get her very own chick shortly! "Sounds good! I'll see you tomorrow!" and with that, Chelsea went out the door to finish the day's work, excited to meet Julia's cousin, even if he was a downer.


	2. meeting

A/N: Hey I got one review so far, you know who you are! Thanks, it means a lot. So without further adieu, the second chapter of my story!

Chelsea woke up the next morning feeling giddy. She had paid Gannon to build a chicken coop the other day and it was supposed to be done already. She shot up out of bed, changed, brushed her teeth, and ate a quick breakfast before opening the door to reveal Gannon about to knock.

"Hi, Gannon! Is my chicken coop done?" Chelsea asked, excitement in her eyes.

"Er, yeah, how'd you know I was gonna say that? But yeah, it's done. Thanks for the business."

Chelsea hugged the huge man out of joy and sped off to meet the new animal trader.

The whole way, she thought that the animal trader couldn't possible be _that _bad, right? He must be misunderstood and maybe a rough childhood or something like that. Chelsea was always up for meeting new people.

Chelsea walked into the animal shop with a little extra spring in her step.

"Good morning, dear." Mirabelle smiled.

"Morning!" Chelsea replied.

"Julia, Chelsea's here!" Mirabelle shouted.

Julia came from the hall, seemingly dragging a big load behind her.

"Come…on! I just want you to say… 'Hi'!" Julia grunted, finally tugging what – or more correctly, _who _was behind her. It was a man, about early twenties – maybe a year or two older than Chelsea or Julia. He was dressed in a black cowboy outfit, complete with a black Stenson. He had odd silver hair, but his most shocking feature was his eyes. They were an amethyst purple and he seemed to be glaring at everything.

"Chelsea, this is my cousin, Vaughn. Vaughn, this is my friend, Chelsea. She's the new rancher here." Julia said.

"Hi, Vaughn! Nice to meet you!" Chelsea chirped, holding out her hand to shake.

Vaughn looked at her hand like it was the plague and didn't say anything. Chelsea lowered her hand, her smile fading slightly.

"Vaughn! That is so rude of you! You should at least shake hands." Julia frowned.

"No. She's annoying. I can already tell." He muttered and walked over to the corner of the shop.

Chelsea turned to Mirabelle, not allowing Vaughn's cold demeanor to dampen her day. "I just had a chicken coop built, and I'd like to buy a chick, please." Chelsea said politely.

Mirabelle beamed. "Good job, dear. You know, since this is your first chick, I'll give it to you for free."

"Oh, that's okay, I have the money…"

"No, dear, this will be our starting gift to your farm. Vaughn, please take Chelsea to the back to choose her chick." Mirabelle looked at Vaughn sternly, scolding him for being rude with her eyes.

Vaughn rolled his eyes. "I don't think this is a good idea. The chick wouldn't last a week with her. She's too… excited."

"Vaughn, that's about enough, please go and take Chelsea to pick out her new chick." Mirabelle said.

Julia was giving Vaughn a dark look. "I'll come with you and take the chicken feed to the ranch."

The trio walked to the back, tension in the air. Vaughn opened the door to the back and let the girls go through. He stayed near the door, his hat covering his eyes.

Chelsea was in chick heaven – the little yellow fluff-balls crowded around her and hopping into her lap. She giggled and nuzzled a few chicks affectionately. How could she possibly choose between any of these cuties? She noticed that one chick was pecking all around her and looked at her curiously. Chelsea picked up the chick and it chirped happily.

"That chick was so quiet before now…" Julia mumbled.

"Really? Then I'll have to take it! I think I name you Peck. Do you like that?" Chelsea asked the chick, who chirped and waved it's little wings.

"Peck it is." Julia smiled. "Isn't that so cute, Vaughn?"

Vaughn grunted and looked at Chelsea. "You know how to take care of that chick? Don't want you killing it…"

Chelsea frowned a little. "I know how to take care of animals just fine, thank you. My parents were ranchers, you see, and they taught me how to take care of animals."

"Whatever."

"Vaughn! Argh, never mind, let's go and take Peck home." Julia sighed.

They walked to the ranch in complete silence, except for the occasional chirp from Peck. When they placed Peck in the coop, she ran around like crazy. Chelsea giggled.

"I think Peck likes it here." Chelsea declared, grinning.

"Yeah. Let me put this feed in the dispenser." Julia walked over to the food dispenser and placed the feed inside.

The whole time, Vaughn was standing stonily at the door, seemingly impatient to get out already. When Peck did come by him, he picked her up and murmured something to her, then set her down to let her on her merry way.

"Julia, let's go." Vaughn said, already walking out the door.

"Fine… I'll see you around, Chels." Julia waved as she left.

"Okay, see you." Chelsea replied. "Well Peck, it looks like it's just you and me!"

Chelsea spent another hour or so playing with the little chick, getting to know her better so they could become the best of friends. "Well, Peck, I have to go and finish up today's work. I'll come back in the morning, though." Chelsea petted the chick on the head once before setting off again.

Chelsea had put the rest of her turnips in the shipment box and Natalie came out to chat.

"Hey, today's Elliot's birthday, guess what I did?" Natalie snickered.

"What did you do to your poor brother?" Chelsea asked.

"I made him cereal for breakfast." Natalie burst into laughing.

"Um, I don't really get the joke…"

"Oh, right. Well Elliot hates milk with a passion. So when I gave him the cereal that had milk with it, he totally gagged. At first he wanted to dump it, but then mom told him to eat it 'cause I made it special for him. Though she knew that I was being mean to him." Natalie grinned, looking satisfied with herself.

Chelsea smiled awkwardly, not getting why Elliot didn't like milk. "You are the perfect sister…"

"Oh, and then when he was carrying this crate, I shouted, 'there's Julia!' and he fell for it! He just whipped around and almost dropped the crate!" Natalie cracked up again.

Chelsea couldn't help but snicker at that. Even when she had first arrived on the islands, she knew that Elliot was smitten with Julia. She thought it was so cute how shy Elliot was and that when Julia came around he would stutter and couldn't get any words out. "As long as he didn't get hurt…"

"Nah, he's fine."

"I got to go see Denny now – he's going to lend me his fishing rod for the day and he's giving me some good pointers. I can't wait to get my own fishing rod…" Chelsea said.

"Yeah, I gotta get back to work too. See you." Natalie headed back to her house to do more work.

Chelsea spent the remainder of the afternoon fishing with Denny and learning how to reel in a big one. Of course, Denny couldn't take her on his boat, but he took a day off to teach her. It was around five, so Denny said it was about time to call it a day. He suggested they go to the Diner for some food, and Chelsea couldn't agree more.

They picked up their orders and sat down. Denny began eating ravenously until something made him stop.

"Denny, are you…" Chelsea stopped midsentence when she saw whom Denny was staring at. It was Lanna, the one- hit pop star. She ordered and sat on the table next to them. Chelsea smiled to herself - Denny was crushing on Lanna. It made sense since Lanna also liked to fish.

"Um, Chels, can I, um, go over…" Denny was looking longingly at Lanna.

"Haha, sure Denny, it's fine." Chelsea didn't need to say another word – Denny was already over next to Lanna, talking animatedly about something – probably fish. Chelsea then noticed they weren't alone in the Diner. Vaughn was on the table farthest in the corner, and he was looking right at her, that is until she saw him and he looked at his food. Chelsea saw this as an opportunity to try and be friends with the cowboy, and she walked right over to his table with her food.

"Hi again. I know we had a rough start, but…" she stopped because Vaughn was glaring at her.

"Why are you over here?" his voice icy cold.

"I thought that we could maybe get to know each other, so we can be friends." Chelsea offered meekly, her big blue eyes meeting his amethyst ones.

"I have no friends."

"Then maybe I can be your first friend."

"No."

"You don't have _any _friends?"

"I don't need them." Vaughn stood up and walked out of the Diner, leaving Chelsea alone and utterly confused.


	3. strange

A/N: It's me again, here's the third chapter! It's a little short, but I hope you enjoy it. This takes place right after Vaughn storms out of the Diner! I thought you might like to see what Vaughn was thinking. Enough with my drabbling, on with the story!

Vaughn rushed from the Diner to the animal shop, slamming the door behind him. Julia was nowhere to be found- out with Elliot for his birthday, Vaughn guessed. Mirabelle gave him a puzzled look, which he ignored. He stormed into his room and locked the door. He flopped onto his bed, frustrated. Why was that farmer girl getting to him so much? Maybe she was just really annoying, like Julia. The feeling he felt around her pained him – Vaughn thought it was extreme annoyance, too much to bear. On the other hand, he did feel the slightest bit bad about being so cold and rude to her… strange.

Vaughn must have dozed off for a bit because a knock at his door startled him awake.

"Vaughn? You in there?" it was Julia.

Vaughn checked his bedside clock – it was nine. "Go away." He said angrily.

"Mom sent me to check on you. Is something wrong?" Julia seemed genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine. Now go away."

Julia was silent for a moment. "If you wanna talk about it, you know where to find me."

Vaughn knew she had left because he heard her footsteps walking away. He groaned into his pillow, wondering what he would do around the rancher. "I'll just avoid her, like everyone else." He decided. With that done, he showered and went to bed.


	4. newcomer

A/N: Here's the next chapter! This chapter will take place near the end of summer, so that means a little time skip!

It was nearing the end of summer, and Chelsea's farm had flourished in only one season, something Chelsea took pride in. She had raised just enough money to buy a barn, but didn't have quite enough for a calf. Chelsea had also raised Volcano Island and met two new friends – Lily and Will. Lily was a treasure hunter from a far away country and Will was a prince traveling the world. Will was also Sabrina's cousin, but they bore no resemblance. As many friends as Chelsea had, there was still one person that Chelsea wanted as a friend – Vaughn. He was only on the island two days a week, meaning Chelsea didn't get much time to try and befriend him… though for the past weeks, each day she saw Vaughn, he wouldn't say anything, and it kind of hurt her feelings. Chelsea promised herself that she would make Vaughn her friend because, Chelsea knew, that everyone needs friends.

Chelsea had just finished watering her tomatoes and clearing her fields, and wiped the sweat off her brow. It was time to go and feed Peck – Peck had matured into a fine hen and was laying good quality eggs. Chelsea didn't ship those eggs, though, even if they offered a little extra income. No, those eggs had very different purpose.

Vaughn woke up at his usual time, expecting to find another egg on his windowsill, but there was none. He had been thinking that one of the chickens may have escaped and was running around laying eggs, but after a few weeks of coming to the islands, he nixed that idea because the eggs would always be in the same place. Vaughn decided not to worry about it and dressed. He went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. The egg that was at his window from the previous day was sitting there.

"Vaughn, you're up on time today!" Julia pretended to gasp.

"Shut up." He grumbled back, taking the egg and some milk with him to the stove.

"You know, those eggs only appear when you're on the islands… Maybe you have a secret admirer or something…" Julia said, grinning.

Vaughn cracked the egg into a bowl with the milk and began stirring it. "I said shut up."

Julia frowned. "If that was a secret admirer, I sure don't know what they see in you!" and stormed off.

Vaughn didn't respond- he calmly cooked the egg in the pan. He wouldn't ever admit it, but the mysterious eggs were tasty. He knew that in order for eggs to be so good, the chicken would have had to be raised with love and care.

Vaughn was leaving the islands again this afternoon and would come back the next week – that was one of the terms of his contract. Vaughn didn't feel any special attachment to the islands or the city- he went back and forth as was required. There wasn't much difference between the city and the Sunshine Islands, no one talked to him in either place, except Mirabelle and Julia, but Vaughn felt that they did it out of obligation. Although lately that rancher had been trying to talk to him… Vaughn shook his head. He didn't have any friends. He had his only two living family members on the islands. He finished his breakfast and stood in the corner he always did on a workday.

Chelsea had done her first rounds of morning greetings: she visited Taro and his family, she poked her head in Chen's store, and she had an interesting conversation with Pierre about making the ideal breakfast. Chelsea neared the animal shop and fished the egg from her rucksack while pushing open the door.

"Morning everyone!" Chelsea smiled, not quite noticing that no one was in the main part of the shop except for her and Vaughn.

Vaughn looked up when he heard the little bell on the door ring. He noticed it was that rancher girl, what was her name again? His eyes went to the egg in her hand – it looked just like the ones that he found on his windowsill. Vaughn didn't let his expression change the slightest bit while he was thinking.

"Oh! Hello, dear. I was just preparing for the day." Mirabelle came out of the hallway, carrying various animal supplies.

"Chelsea?" Julia came next, another bunch of animal supplies in her hands. The blonde gave her friend a big smile.

"Hey, Jules. Hi, Vaughn." Chelsea turned her attention to Vaughn, a look of determination in her eyes.

Vaughn rolled his eyes. The girl, Chelsea was going to try and talk to him – again.

"Vaughn, I heard that you like animal products… so…" Chelsea walked over to Vaughn and presented the egg to him.

Vaughn stared at the egg for a few seconds, and then took it. "You've been leaving these at my window…" he wasn't asking a question.

Chelsea laughed uneasily. "I didn't think you'd accept them if I'd tried to give them to you myself."

Vaughn grunted. "Weirdo." And turned away.

Chelsea was a bit hurt by this, but was not deterred from her mission. "I wanted to prove that I am good at taking care of chickens."

"C'mon, Vaughn, at least say 'thanks'." Julia said sternly, irritated by her cousin's coldness.

"It's fine, Julia. I have to go anyway." Chelsea gave the group another smile and went on her way to finish greeting all the residents of the islands.

Chelsea was walking along the sandy beach of Sprout Island, staring out at the ocean, trying to figure out how to get Vaughn to be her friend. She was also waiting for Denny to come back from fishing so that he could help her with her casting technique, though Chelsea wasn't so sure she was in the mood to her Denny talk about how incredibly brown Lanna's eyes are.

"Hi, Chelsea!" came Lanna's voice.

"Lanna! How're you?" Chelsea grinned.

"I feel so incredibly amazing! I'm going out with Denny this afternoon!" Lanna chirped.

"Really? 'Cause Denny said he'd help me with my fishing today." Chelsea wanted to laugh at the fact that Denny had forgotten their lesson all for Lanna. Oh, Denny…

"Is that so? That's awfully rude of him! Well in that case, I'll help you out!" Lanna offered.

"Sure!" Chelsea knew that Lanna was just about as good as Denny was, and maybe, just maybe, wouldn't only talk about her boyfriend. Ah, who was she kidding? Lanna's a girl too, and that meant that boys would be the only topic of conversation. Chelsea tried to think of herself with a boyfriend, and how her friends would cover their ears after hearing hours of how cute he was.

After an hour or so of fishing, Lanna and Chelsea called it a day, and went to the Café for lunch. Lanna always went to the Café for lunch and went to the Diner for dinner. Lanna brought their food to the table and they began to eat their meal.

"So, Chelsea, the Fireworks Festival is in a couple days! Who are you going with?" Lanna gave a suggestive wink, hoping to find out if her farmer friend had a special someone.

"Er, actually, I don't have a date…" Chelsea replied. She had always imagined herself going to the Fireworks Festival and the Starry Night Festival with her own 'the one'. She felt a little embarrassed for thinking such childish thoughts, but most girls thought the same way.

"You don't? But Chelsea, how could guys _not _ask you out?" Lanna gasped.

"I guess they don't know me well enough yet."

"Please, that's what dating is for!"

"I think going without a date is fine… the fireworks are always pretty anyway."

"Ooohh, Chels, I think you have boy issues! Who rejected you?" Lanna inquired, wanting to sink her teeth into the sweet, romantic information.

"I'm not crushing on anybody, if that's what you mean, but it is about a guy…" Chelsea said.

"Whatever you say, but tell me who it is!"

"It's Vaughn… he seems to be great with animals, but he is so distant. I just want to be his friend, but he pushes me away."

"Julia's cousin? He's hot, I'll give him that, but he's a meanie, that's for sure." Lanna looked at her fingernails, completely bored about the topic of Vaughn.

"I think he just needs a friend, that's all."

"Oh, Chelsea, you're always so optimistic! That grouch could use some of your kindness, and some of my style…"

Chelsea giggled. "Why? I think the cowboy outfit suits him. So tell me, did Denny ask you out to the Fireworks Festival?"

Lanna blushed. "I think he's going to tonight! I hope he does, I have the best outfit for it!"

"Do you think Elliot will ask Julia out?" Chelsea hoped Elliot would muster up the courage to ask Julia out.

"Elliot? HA! It's a nice thought, but I think Julia will end up asking him." Lanna almost fell back in her chair.

"And what about Natalie and Pierre?"

"I dunno, Nat is always complaining that all that's on Pierre's mind is his Gourmet heritage." Lanna said thoughtfully.

"And Sabrina? Who does she like?" Chelsea did wonder who the shy girl liked, if anyone at all.

"I'm not sure. Maybe she likes Vaughn – they walk around here sometimes, without talking. They don't walk _together_, but you know." Lanna replied.

"So you think that Vaughn is lying about having no friends?" Chelsea was puzzled. Sabrina never mentioned that she ever liked someone.

"Who knows? Or cares for that matter, Vaughn's a bad egg, no offense to your little mission. Sabrina's smart – I hope she doesn't go pining for him." Lanna sighed.

"What about Lily? Does that mean Will is going to ask her out?" Chelsea thought the two would make a cute couple, though Will was rich, he didn't like things of value – he liked flowers. Lily was a treasure hunter and would show Will the gems she mined from Volcano Island. Lily and Will would argue about which was more beautiful – a flower or a gem.

"I guess, I mean, they both have a weird way of speaking." Lanna nodded, she could that happening.

The girls sat for a while in silence, picking at their food. Lanna was checking off all the pairings on the islands.

"Oh no! Chels! If Vaughn asks Sabrina out, or if he even goes at all, then you'll have no one!" Lanna gasped.

"Lanna, it's fine – if Vaughn asks Sabrina out, then I'll ask her how to be friends with him. Besides, I don't like Vaughn that way. We're not even friends yet… but I hope we can be friends one day."

"Okay… if you want to throw your friendship lasers at Vaughn only for them to bounce off, go ahead. I still think you need a man in your life." Lanna said.

Chelsea rolled her eyes playfully. "Of course you think that…"

"You'll understand when you find someone like Denny, strong, funny, likes the stuff you like…" Lanna trailed off, her head in the clouds, thinking about Denny.

"Sure… well I should go – Denny should be back soon and I wouldn't want to bother you guys." Chelsea disposed of her plate.

"OHMYGODDESS! MY DATE IS IN TEN MINUTES!" Lanna threw her trash away and bolted out of the Café to prepare for her date.

Chelsea noticed that Lanna had forgotten her fishing rod at the table. She grabbed it and ran out the door. "Lanna! You forgot your," Chelsea was knocked down as she exited the Café. She looked up to see Vaughn glaring down at her.

"Sorry…" Chelsea mumbled.

"Watch where you're goin…" Vaughn growled and he went into the Café.

Lanna must have seen this from her house and she came right back outside.

"Hey! That was so mean! I'm gonna get him…" Lanna grumbled as she helped Chelsea up.

Chelsea slowly got up, sore from the impact. Vaughn was solid! "Your fishing rod…"

The rod was snapped. "Lanna, I didn't mean to break your rod…" Chelsea looked down.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault, it was Vaughn's." Lanna said.

"Was that your only pole?"

"Nah, I fish so much! I have plenty of rods." Lanna laughed. "Besides, maybe Denny can repair it for me…" she added.

"You are obsessed. Anyway, you should get back to getting ready for your date."

"Yeah… oh! Who's that moving in over there?" Lanna was staring at the Hotel.

Chelsea followed Lanna's gaze to see some guys carrying boxes going in and out of the Hotel. Then she saw another boy helping – he wasn't in a uniform, so Chelsea assumed he was the one moving in. The boy was probably a few seasons older than Chelsea and he had blonde hair and deep green eyes. He wore blue overalls with a brown jacket and he had gloves and a blue cap on his head.

"Possible boyfriend alert! Chelsea you should go and meet out new resident!" Lanna pushed Chelsea towards the Hotel.

"Lanna! Why don't you come with me?"

"I have to get ready for my date!" and with that, Lanna disappeared into her house.

_Well, I can make a new friend today! _Chelsea thought as she walked over to the boy. He seemed friendly from the way he talked with the movers. "Hi, I'm Chelsea, the rancher on these islands." Chelsea said with a smile.

"Hey, I'm Mark." The boy said as they shook hands. "You're a rancher too?"

"Yep!"

"Cool! I think we'll get along great." Mark smiled.

Chelsea felt like she had found a kindred spirit, someone who loved farming and animals. All of this would have been so much more wonderful if Chelsea hadn't noticed that Vaughn was staring from inside the Café.

And that's chapter four! I know you don't unlock Mark until you raise all of the islands, but who follows that in fanfics? Thanks for reading! I'm working on the next chapter!


	5. no

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading my story so far and bearing with me on my first fanfiction! Just thought I'd express my appreciation! So, what will happen next? On with the story!

Vaughn was already annoyed with Chelsea for running in to him when he was walking into the Café. He didn't know why, but when he looked out the window, he saw Chelsea talking to another boy. Vaughn thought the new boy seemed annoying, just like everyone else on the islands. He rolled his eyes and went back to eating.

**To Chelsea and Mark! **

Chelsea had sworn she had seen Vaughn staring at them from inside the Café. She shook her head – Vaughn was probably staring _through _them rather than _at _them.

"Well, anyways, I heard there was a festival happening here tomorrow." Mark's voice snapped Chelsea out of her reverie.

"Oh, yeah. The Fireworks Festival is tomorrow."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go together?" Mark gave her a shy smile.

"Um, sure! Can I maybe invite a friend?" Chelsea thought Mark's offer was a bit sudden.

"Of course! The more the merrier! I hope you didn't think I was asking you on a date, we just met!" Mark laughed.

Chelsea flushed, embarrassed that she was so hopeless that she would take it so seriously. Maybe where Mark was from they went to the Fireworks Festival with friends.

Chelsea then spotted the 'friend' she wanted to invite.

"Vaughn!"

Vaughn heard, her, but kept walking.

Chelsea ran over to the cowboy. "Vaughn! Did you want to come with Mark and I to the festival tomorrow?"

Vaughn spun around. "No."

"Why not? I'm not asking you out on a date… I want to be your friend!" Chelsea tried to give her best puppy-dog face.

Vaughn's glare softened a fraction – maybe humoring Chelsea would get her off his back. Vaughn sighed. "I can't. I'm going back to the city this afternoon."

Chelsea frowned. "Oh… I see. Are you going to see the fireworks in the city with someone anyway?"

"I told you, I have no friends."

"Can't you stay one more day?"

"No."

"Please? I'll pay your boss!" Chelsea begged.

"No." Vaughn turned and began walking.

Chelsea went back to Mark, dejected.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked.

"Nothing…."

"You sure?"

"No. I just want Vaughn to be my friend, but he ignores me. I thought I almost had a breakthrough this morning, but…" The words had flowed from her mouth without Chelsea thinking about it.

"Well you seem really nice! I don't see why he doesn't want to be your friend. You make me feel so welcome already!" Mark said.

Chelsea managed to muster up a smile. Mark did give her a spark of new hope – if she could make Mark, a complete stranger, feel welcome so fast, then she had a shot at getting to know Vaughn.

"Thanks, Mark." Chelsea said, grateful for making a new friend.

"No problem, let me walk you home."

"Do you even know where it is?"

"I'll get you there…"

That's chapter 5! Wow, I make Chelsea seem REALLY obsessed about friends…. Anyway, please review and the like! – Eighttails


	6. Chapter 6

Hey it's me, Eighttails! Here's chapter 6! Fireworks Festival time! It's going to be another short update… Sorry! I've been playing ToTT on my DS!

It was the day of the Fireworks Festival and Chelsea had done all of her chores for the day and was getting ready for the festival. She had showered and changed into her usual outfit. Now all that was left was waiting for Mark to pick her up and to take Kirk's boat over to Meadow Island. A knock at the door signaled her escort was there.

"Coming!" Chelsea ran over to the door and opened it to reveal Mark, a big smile on his face.

"Hey, Chelsea. Hope I'm not too early…"

"Not at all! It's only five though." Chelsea replied.

"I know – I kinda wanted to get something to eat." He said.

"Oh, sure."

The two farmers ate at the Diner and went to Meadow Island. As they looked for a place to sit, they passed the other couples of the islands. Julia and Elliot were sitting _very_ close together, Julia whispering and giggling to her date. Elliot seemed to be in heaven, his dream woman right next to him, though he looked like he was about to pass out. Natalie and Pierre were together, chatting about some unknown subject – food - Chelsea guessed since Natalie was slowly losing interest. Lanna and Denny were also there; Denny had a big grin on his face. Lanna noticed Chelsea's escort and whistled loudly. Chelsea blushed, trying to ignore Lanna.

"Don't mind her, she thinks we're on a date." Chelsea whispered.

"Don't worry, I understand." Mark chuckled.

Finally, Lily and Will were sitting on a picnic blanket, a candle in the middle. Will was staring at Lily like she was a goddess, and Lily was looking at Will like he was the strangest specimen ever seen. Chelsea noticed only one person was missing – Sabrina. Chelsea suddenly thought that she should have asked Sabrina to come with Mark and herself.

"So, Chelsea, how about over here?" Mark gestured to a spot on the ground that Chelsea figured would have a pretty good view of the fireworks and the sunset.

"This spot is fine." They sat and waited for Gannon to begin the show.

As they were waiting, Chelsea and Mark had started talking about farming. Mark needed a job, and he was a decent farmer – he said that Chelsea could help him out. Chelsea did think a farm hand would be a good idea – with help, she could plant more seeds, which would get her more money, which meant that she could get a cow! Plus, if Mark helped her out, then she would have more time to run around the archipelago and raise more islands.

"Oh! They're starting!" Chelsea gasped as the first fireworks flew into the sky, spotting it with dazzling colors.

"Those are some pretty good fireworks!" Mark agreed.

The show ended too soon for all the couples. Denny and Lanna were passionately kissing, Lily and Will seemed to finally understand each other, and Elliot and Julia were cuddling, Elliot's face was beet red, his arm tentatively placed around Julia's shoulders.

The couples had to squish into Kirk's boat and the girls had to end up sitting in their dates' laps. Lanna and Denny opted to stay on Meadow Island, saying they'd come back after a few hours. Chelsea sat on Mark's knees to reduce the awkwardness.

"We're almost there…" Mark mumbled tiredly.

When they finally did get back to Verdure Island, Mark walked Chelsea back to her house and they said their goodbyes, Mark promising to get to work early. After Mark had left, Chelsea flopped onto her bed and fell asleep.


	7. Friends?

All right! It's me again! Let's get on with the story! This is going to take place near the end of winter, if you haven't guessed by now, I like short time skips! Sorry if this chapter isn't good, I have just a tiny bit of writer's block – this may be considered an almost filler chapter, but it has a couple of important things.

Winter was nearly over, but the weather had gotten even colder. Chelsea couldn't grow any crops in winter, so Mark didn't have to work. Having Mark help out was a good choice – Chelsea was able to afford her first calf, and it had matured through Fall and was producing good milk. She named the cow Abby - she just liked the name. Near the end of Fall, Chelsea was able to upgrade her chicken coop to have an incubator and put one of Peck's eggs in. The egg hatched and she named the chick Chiki – the chick also matured into a hen. Chelsea was so overjoyed with her new animals and she wanted to celebrate her success with everyone – especially Mark, who had helped her get to her current state of prosperity.

Chelsea had also been able to get to know Vaughn a tiny bit more. She learned that he _hated _carrots and most vegetables, though carrots were the bane of his existence. Instead, Chelsea gave him milk or eggs each morning when he was on the islands, which did seem to get him to say a few sentences to her. She was heading over to the animal shop as she always did each morning, a bottle of fresh milk in hand for Vaughn. Chelsea believed that this would be the day she and Vaughn would officially become friends.

Chelsea walked through the door of the animal shop, a big smile on her face.

"Good morning, everybody!" She greeted.

"Chels! Hi!" Julia replied.

"Hello, dear." Came Mirabelle's voice.

Vaughn grunted a greeting from his corner. This encouraged Chelsea as she approached the cowboy.

"Vaughn, I brought you something…" Chelsea held the milk out to him.

He took it silently, then muttered, "Thanks."

Chelsea's jaw nearly dropped – that was the first time Vaughn had actually shown any gratitude towards her gifts. "No problem." She choked out, shocked. Julia and Mirabelle looked just as surprised.

"What?" Vaughn shot the girls a glare.

"Y-you just…" Julia stuttered.

"Whatever. I'm goin for a walk." Vaughn left the shop.

Julia turned to Chelsea. "Chels… he said 'thanks'! He hasn't said that since… a long time ago!"

Mirabelle just smiled to herself and went behind the counter to set up for work.

"Julia, his birthday is Spring three, right? I want to make him his favorite dish." Chelsea declared.

"Yeah, it is. His favorite food… hmmm, I think its porridge. Just make some rice and mix it with milk. He likes his porridge cold, though." Julia said.

"That sounds easy enough!" Chelsea said confidently.

The door opened again, revealing Natalie and Lanna.

"We saw Vaughn mumbling to himself about actually being polite – is something wrong with him?" Natalie asked bluntly.

"YES! He actually said 'thanks' to Chelsea when she gave him milk!" Julia squealed.

Natalie and Lanna looked at each other, skeptical.

"Vaughn? Like, your _cousin_, Vaughn?" Lanna raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!"

"Wow."

"I know!"

"Enough about my cousin, I want to hear about you and Mr. Farmer Man. I think you two hit it off!" Julia said excitedly.

"Oooh, yeah he's cute!" Lanna agreed.

"Not as cute as Pierre, though." Natalie stated.

"Nat, Pierre is cute in a little kid way! Denny is _way_ hotter!" Lanna declared.

"Elliot is the cutest guy on the island!" Julia chimed in.

The three girls began to argue about whose boyfriend was the cutest. Chelsea watched awkwardly, and tried to break them up.

"All of them are cute!" she finally said.

The others looked at her for a moment and nodded, mumbling apologies to each other.

"You're right – besides, we should hook you up with Mark since you obviously won't do it on your own!" Julia grinned.

"What? But I already told you," Chelsea started.

"Nonsense! If Lily and Will can work as a couple, anything is possible!" Lanna added.

"Besides, the Starry Night Festival is right around the corner." Julia reminded all of the girls.

Chelsea couldn't believe that she had forgotten about it – the Starry Night Festival was her favorite festival when she was a kid, even though she had no one to go with. It was more intimate than the Fireworks Festival, it was supposed to be romantic – every girl's dream.

"Give Mark a try, I think he really likes you." Julia urged.

"Yeah! He's way nicer than Vaughn."

"Wait! Who s-said I was pining for Vaughn?" Chelsea stuttered.

"Ah, just leave her alone." Natalie said.

Chelsea gave the redhead a grateful look. "Fine, I'll go with whoever wants to go with me. I don't want to sound desperate and beg someone to go with me…"

"Yeah, Julia. You should let Elliot man up and ask you out instead." Natalie smirked.

Julia rolled her eyes at Natalie. "I didn't say you were desperate. Look, I'm sorry if we keep pushing you into things, but all of us have somebody special – we don't want you to feel left out."

Chelsea smiled at her friends. "Thanks for caring… Hey! I have an idea! I should ask Vaughn to go with me!"

"I thought you just said you weren't going to ask anyone."

"Yeah, and it would seem like you're hitting on him since this _is _the Starry Night Festival…"

Chelsea sighed. "Oh well. I guess he might go with Sabrina if she even likes him."

"Sabrina? I dunno she seems like the type to stay in at this kind of festival." Natalie observed.

The girls fell silent for a moment, awkwardly, trying to think about what to talk about next. Natalie was drumming her fingers on the table, Julia was looking around aimlessly, and Lanna pulled out a file and began filing her nails. Chelsea realized that she had to go, and said, "I got to go – fishing keeps my income up!" and with a wave, she left the shop.

Chelsea jogged to Sprout Island because it was her favorite fishing spot. Sure, the islands were surrounded by water and there were plenty of other fishing spots, but Chelsea preferred Sprout Island. As she was walking, she saw Vaughn pacing and muttering to himself. Chelsea went over to him, thinking maybe he would come fishing or at least talk.

"Hi, Vaughn."

Vaughn's head snapped up – startled. His face quickly returned to his usual mask of apathy. "What?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come fish with me. You look like you need to talk…" Chelsea offered.

Vaughn shot her a glare. "No."

"Please?"

Vaughn saw that there was no escape from this. If he ran off now, Chelsea would surely come bother him later. He sighed heavily. "Fine. But only this once."

"Yay!" Chelsea took his arm and tried to pull him along.

Vaughn tugged himself free, muttering, "I'm comin'."

Chelsea had cast a few lines, and caught a couple of fish. Vaughn's silence bugged her. When she fished with Denny or Lanna, they would talk almost nonstop. "Vaughn, why don't you want any friends?" Chelsea finally blurted out.

Vaughn gave her a cold stare, his purple eyes showed his annoyance. "Because they bother me. Like you."

Chelsea frowned. "I'm sorry if I bother you so much, but it bugs me that you have no one to talk to."

"I talk to the animals."

"Oh. No wonder you're so good with animals!" she had a feeling that talking about animals would get Vaughn to open up more. She was right, because the corners of Vaughn's mouth twitched upwards.

"I guess."

"Do you think I'm raising my animals well?" Chelsea asked, wanting the animal trader's honest opinion.

Vaughn was quiet, but nodded. "You aren't the worst out there…" That was probably the closest thing to a compliment Vaughn had ever said in his life. He meant it, though. Chelsea's animals produced good quality products.

Chelsea's face seemed to light up. "You think so? It means a lot… Oh! I have a bite!" the fishing rod was being tugged at by what must have been a huge fish. She was reeling it in, but it was strong. Chelsea almost fell off the dock when strong arms grabbed her waist and pulled her back. The extra force allowed Chelsea to pull the rod and finally bring in the fish. The monster fish was, well, a monster fish! It looked like a really big angler, complete with teeth the size of fingers. Chelsea gasped, knowing she had caught the King Fish of Sprout Island. Denny had explained that if you catch a King Fish, you must let it go.

"What the…" Vaughn stared at the fish, adjusting his hat.

"It's a King Fish! Denny told me about them. We have to let it go." Chelsea tried to nudge the fish back into the water without getting bitten. The angler was thrashing wildly and was only inches from the water.

Vaughn approached the fish with caution, like any wild animal. "Shhh…" he whispered. The fish still thrashed as Vaughn struggled to pick it up. He held it over the water and released it. The fish darted back to the depths of the sea.

"Wow, you're good with any animal!" Chelsea smiled.

"Hmph."

"Um, Vaughn?"

"What?"

"You kinda saved me just now…" Chelsea said meekly, looking at the cowboy with wide eyes.

Vaughn looked away, tipping his hat over his eyes. "Whatever."

"So does this mean… you want to be friends?" Chelsea figured that Vaughn _had _to maybe kind of like her in order to save her.

Vaughn's thoughts were swirling around. Did Chelsea really, truly want to be his friend? Friend… he hadn't had a friend since he was a child.

"So, friends?" Chelsea held her hand out to shake.

"Friends." Vaughn shook Chelsea's hand, and he could see how happy she was.

Well that's the chapter! I hope it wasn't too bad… till next time! – Eighttails


	8. awkward

It's me! So, I think this is where the plot may thicken and/or develop more! Erm, though I haven't really written anything super dramatic or anything, but any drama won't start here, well, not really. Forgive me if this isn't AMAZING, but I hope you enjoy!

The day after Chelsea finally gained Vaughn as a friend she woke up feeling accomplished. She was going with Mark to the mine on Volcano Island to mine for precious stones to help bring in more money. She had asked Vaughn, but he declined, saying he was leaving that afternoon, but told her to be careful. Chelsea suspected that Vaughn was trying to say more _nice _things to her, his only friend. _Well, at least he's trying._ Chelsea thought to herself as she walked to Kirk's boat where Mark was already waiting for her.

"Chelsea! You made it!" Mark flashed a smile.

"What? Oh, I stopped by the animal shop to see Julia and Vaughn." Chelsea swore she saw Mark frown slightly.

"I see. So, you ready to go mining?" he smiled again, slinging his rucksack over his shoulder.

"Yeah!" With that, they boarded the small boat and Kirk took them to Volcano Island.

Chelsea liked mining, but she was clumsy and fell through pitfalls on more than one occasion. She usually went with Lily to minimize the risk, though Lily did have to haul her back to the surface a couple of times. Chelsea liked looking at the lava in the mine, the way it glowed and how it made the mine seem mysterious.

Once they entered the mine, Chelsea told Mark the basic safety guidelines Lily had told her: do not run randomly around the mine – the floor is riddled with pitfalls. Do not touch the lava unless your have poured plenty of water on it. Most importantly: know your limits because passing out in the mine is not a good thing.

About an hour passed and the farmers had made it to the third floor. The ore stones mostly had junk ore in them, meaning they would have to go a bit deeper to start finding semi-precious gems and stones.

"Chelsea! I found a sand rose!"

"Great!"

Another couple of hours and they made it to the tenth floor. Chelsea hadn't gone this far, and she was overjoyed to finally make it. So far, she had found some moonstones and a topaz – a stone usually found a little deeper in the mine. Mark had found similar stones, and he was still going strong. Chelsea was digging around, trying to find the staircase that led to the next floor.

"Chelsea, I found the stairs!" Mark called from the other side of the mine, waving his hoe in the air.

"Coming – Ah!" Chelsea had started running, but her foot landed on what else? A pitfall. She fell through the floor and landed on her behind. "Owwwww…"

"Chelsea!" Mark ran down the stairs and ran to Chelsea, a concerned look plastered on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. I fall all the time." Chelsea gave him a little smile, which he did not return.

"You shouldn't scare me like that… You could've fallen more than one floor! You could've been hurt!" Mark scolded her.

Chelsea didn't like to be scolded like a child, but stayed quiet, wondering why Mark was so angry. "Geez, I'm fine. Keep your hat on…" Chelsea cracked a sheepish grin.

Mark sighed. "Sorry. It's just that… never mind." He offered his hand and helped Chelsea up.

"What? You don't think I can take care of myself? I can, you know." Chelsea frowned.

"No! It's not that! I um…" Mark rubbed the back of his neck.

"What?"

"I like you, all right?"

"That's good." Chelsea said sarcastically.

"No, I mean, I like you… a lot." Now it was Mark who sounded like a child.

"Oh…" Chelsea looked away, surprised at his sudden words.

"I wanted to ask you if you would go with me to the Starry Night Festival tomorrow…" Mark mumbled, a little blush crept onto his cheeks.

Chelsea's eyes widened. A guy was asking her to the Starry Night Festival! Her dream come true! "Sure!" she blurted out.

"Really?"

"Yes!"

They left the mine to put the stones they had found into the shipping bin back on Verdure Island. Chelsea spotted Vaughn on the way and decided she wanted to see him off. "Mark, can you put my gems into the bin?" Chelsea took her rucksack off and gave it to him, not waiting for an answer.

"Sure…" But she was already heading towards Vaughn. Mark didn't exactly like Vaughn – he was moody and rude and cold.

"Vaughn!" Chelsea pounced onto the cowboy, but he caught her easily.

"Er… Hi, Chelsea." He mumbled back, adjusting his Stenson. "Is hugging a 'friend thing'?"

"Yep! You'll have to get used to it!" Chelsea chirped.

"Great… Um, how was mining?" Vaughn's attempt at making small talk was successful.

"It was good, though I fell through a pitfall…." Chelsea winced a little- there might be a bruise in the morning.

Vaughn frowned. "I told you to be careful. Should've guessed it would happen anyway."

"You and Mark! Both of you guys think I can't take care of myself, but I can." Chelsea shot back.

Mark saw that Chelsea and Vaughn seemed to be arguing and he ran over to see what was going on. "Chelsea, I hope he's not giving you any trouble." Mark eyed Vaughn warily.

"What do you want?" Vaughn glared.

"Mark, it's fine." Chelsea stepped between the two.

"Whatever." Mark huffed.

"My boat is here." Vaughn said tightly, tipping his hat to Chelsea and walked off.

"That guy is a jerk. I don't see why you're his friend." Mark grumbled.

"I think he had a bad childhood or something." Chelsea replied, taking her rucksack from Mark.

"Not every cold-hearted person had a bad childhood."

"I know, but he just needs some friends."

There was a tense silence as they walked to Chelsea's ranch. "So what time are you picking me up tomorrow?" she tried to break the awkwardness.

"At six – you don't have to dress fancy." They stopped in front of Chelsea's house.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah." Mark waved and headed back to the Hotel.

Chelsea hoped that in the city, Vaughn would go on a date with someone for the festival since everyone else had a date.


	9. starry night

Hey everyone! Here's another festival! Isn't it strange how Vaughn is always off-island for these in my story? Well, I've decided these instances are merely coincidental for the sake of the story. This chapter will seem really repetitive, so bear with me! I don't know if it will turn out good, I apologize…Anyway, on with the story!

Chelsea had gotten everything that needed to be done for the day finished and had taken a shower. She remembered that Mark had told her not to dress fancy, so she changed into her usual outfit, though it was a clean set. It felt like a déjà vu moment – in the Summer, she had gone to the Fireworks Festival with Mark, after Vaughn couldn't go, and this was similar. Chelsea was snapped out of her memories by a knock on her door.

"Coming!" Chelsea called as she ran to greet her visitor. It was no surprise that it was Mark, but it did surprise Chelsea that he was holding a flower and looked a little shy.

"I got this for you." He murmured and held the moondrop flower to her.

"Thanks, but you really didn't have to." Chelsea accepted the flower sheepishly.

"No, but I wanted to. Did you eat yet?"

"Yeah, was I not supposed to?" Chelsea asked, afraid that Mark had planned something already.

"It doesn't matter since I only brought dessert anyway." Mark held up a picnic basket. "We can eat pastries while we look at the stars."

Chelsea wanted to squeal with excitement – she was actually going to the Starry Night Festival! "That sounds good."

Mark took Chelsea to the beach on the southern part of Verdure Island, no one else was there – each couple chose their own spot to watch the stars. They sat down on the blanket Mark had brought, and he opened the basket.

"These look so yummy!" Chelsea took a éclair and began to nibble at it.

"That's good. I think every guy on the island went and got pastries…" Mark said off-handedly while he took a pastry for himself.

"Except Pierre." Chelsea giggled.

"Except him." Mark agreed. "You know, he's so lucky he can cook so well. He doesn't have to worry about making something amazing so quickly." He added.

After finishing their food, the two farmers lay back on the blanket to gaze at the stars. Chelsea felt that the stars were more beautiful on the islands rather than the city because there was no smog to blotch out the shining stars.

"Do you know any constellations, Chelsea?"

"A few – my parents taught me the Big Dipper and Orion and some other ones." Chelsea said, remembering her parents showing her the stars in Forget-Me-Not Valley.

"That's cool. I know some of those too."

They continued talking for a while, and whenever they paused, the sound of waves sloshing against the sand filled the silence

… … … … … …

Mark had walked Chelsea back to her house, glad that this was their first date. "Was tonight alright for you?" Mark asked, a little self-conscious about it all.

"It was great! Thanks, Mark."

"Really? Awesome! I'll be seeing you then."

"Okay! You don't have to come help me tomorrow – I got it."

"You sure?"

"Yep!"

"Bye, Chelsea." Mark waved and walked off, leaving Chelsea to revel in her dream come true.

Wooooow, I think that chapter wasn't too amazing… I don't think I'll be able to write another chapter for another couple of weeks – exams are barreling towards me! What happens next? I know! But you'll find out soon enough! Until next time! (Wow this sounds like some kids' show…)


	10. birthday

Okay! Exams are OVER! YAY! Now that the boring previous chapter is out of the way –flicks the fail of a chapter away-we can get on to a (tiny bit) more character – developing stage! Yay! It's only a little time skip from the end of Winter to Spring 3, Vaughn's birthday.

Vaughn walked off the ship groggily; it was so early in the morning. He was used to it, though, getting to the islands at three in the morning on Mondays… but this particular Monday was his birthday. Now Vaughn didn't really care for birthdays much, but the least his boss could do was maybe to let him leave later. But no, his boss treated this day as any other. The only people who ever really celebrated his birthday lived on the islands, and Mirabelle and Julia always fussed about it.

After making his way to the animal shop, he flopped onto his bed and slept a few more hours.

"Vaughn! Get up!" Julia shouted while rapping on his door. Vaughn groaned, but slowly got up.

"Quit yelling…I'm gettin' up." He muttered.

"Hurry it up! You have a visitor!"

_A visitor? _Vaughn was still in his usual clothes, and brushed his teeth, slowly, to annoy Julia, and headed to the front of the shop.

"Happy birthday!" Mirabelle, Julia, and Chelsea exclaimed when he walked in the room.

"Er, thanks, I guess. Chelsea, why're you here?" Vaughn was used to Julia and Mirabelle celebrating his birthday, but never anyone else.

"Its what friends do, silly!" Chelsea grinned, handing him a box. "Open it now! But don't shake it." She warned.

Vaughn rolled his eyes – it better not be a snow globe or anything like that. He opened the box to reveal a bowl with saran wrap covering it and it was cold. "What is this?"

"Eat some!" Chelsea chirped, excited to see Vaughn's reaction.

"I will, I will… keep your pants on…" he grumbled while unwrapping the bowl and grabbing a spoon from the kitchen. Chelsea and Julia seemed to be watching him very closely. Vaughn ignored them and proceeded to take the first bite. His eyes went wide and he realized it was porridge – served cold. The dish was delicious and made him more awake already.

"Well?" the girls came closer.

"It's good." Vaughn mumbled, tipping his hat over his eyes. "How'd you know I liked cold porridge?"

Chelsea giggled. "A little birdie told me." She saw Vaughn's gaze go to Julia for a second.

"Anyway, Chels, tell him what you have planned." Julia said smugly.

"Oh, Goddess…" he groaned.

Chelsea ignored his complaint and began their 'schedule'. "I gave you your gift, so that's done, hmm, okay! We're going to explore Mushroom Island! I just raised it the other day and I want someone to explore it with. And then we're going to eat lunch with Sabrina, Lanna, Denny, Julia, and just about everyone else on the island!" by the time she finished talking, she was almost out of breath.

Vaughn didn't exactly like Chelsea's idea, but since she went through so much trouble to plan it… "Fine. I'll go along with this. But why me to explore Mushroom Island?" Vaughn thought that one of the girls would explore with her.

"Because, the rest of us need time to set up on Sprout Island, and we don't want you to meddle with us." Julia cut in, a smug smile on her face. Julia had noticed that Vaughn had become oddly more compliant the past few weeks she guessed that actually having a friend or two affected him.

"You ready?" Chelsea was already heading out the door.

"I'm comin…"

… … …

When the boat docked on Mushroom Island, the first thing Vaughn noticed was that there was a huge amount of mushrooms – big surprise. There were three house – sized mushrooms in the middle of the island. The second thing he noticed was that Chelsea was already out of the boat, running around.

"Hurry up, Vaughn!" she called, waving at him from the middle of the island.

"Goddess, she's fast…"

….

Minutes of exploring the new island were spent gathering mushrooms and sorting out the poisonous ones from the edible ones. Chelsea was looking through the thicker bushes while Vaughn was on the opposite end of the island looking around. He saw that there was a tent on the eastern side, but no one else was around. Vaughn was snapped out of his foraging when a scream pierced the air.

Chelsea had been searching for more mushrooms, leading herself into thicker brush. Mushroom Island wasn't really too much like a forest, but the trees along the edges grew thick. All of a sudden, she felt herself being tackled by some unknown force, and Chelsea did the most natural thing – she screamed.

Vaughn ran as fast as he could to find Chelsea. He saw a man standing over her, a spear to her throat. The man had darker skin, from the sun or if he was born that way, Vaughn couldn't tell. He wore an animal skin loincloth and had patterns painted on his arms and face – a smaller knife was sheathed on his shoulder.

"HEY!" Vaughn shouted at the strange ma, running at him full force.

The man jumped out of the way easily, like an animal. Vaughn didn't react in time and tackled thin air, tumbling onto the ground.

"Chelsea, you alright?"

Chelsea rubbed her head, a bit dizzy, but she was fine. "I'm fine, what about you?"

"I think I hurt my wrist… but who _is _that?" Vaughn motioned at the wild man.

"Not sure. Hey! Who're you?" Chelsea gave the strange man a little smile.

The man's scowl melted into a smile. "Me Shea! Who you?" The words seemed strange on his tongue, like he had to really think about what to say.

"I'm Chelsea and this is Vaughn! Sorry if we scared you…" Chelsea went on, trying to see if Shea was really that dangerous.

"What you doing here?"

"We were exploring and looking for mushrooms."

Shea nodded, "Shea come here too! Shea live here now. Become great warrior."

"Chelsea, why are you trying to make small talk with him?" Vaughn hissed.

"He doesn't seem too bad – we just scared him."

Shea came closer, observing Chelsea. "Ch…Chelsea… why you look different from Shea and V… Vaughn?" Shea said their names tentatively.

"What?" Chelsea was pretty sure she was human.

Shea shook his head and pounded his hand against his chest.

"Wha…OH! Well I'm a girl…" Chelsea flushed.

"Girl? What is girl?" Shea seemed completely and hopelessly confused. "Wada know… Wada not here…" Shea seemed sad after mentioning the mysterious Wada.

"Who's Wada?" Chelsea asked.

"Wada Shea's father…but not real father…" Shea was struggling to piece the sentence together.

"Oh! He's like an adoptive father!" at that Shea nodded.

"Great, now Chelsea, we should go." Vaughn muttered.

"Not yet."

"Shea miss Wada. Wada great warrior, Shea become like him."

"Where is Wada?"

"Cannot name place…"

"Oh, well if you're lonely, then Vaughn and I will be your friends!" Chelsea smiled.

"We will not!" Vaughn protested.

"I'll be your friend, then." Chelsea offered.

"Friend? Hmm… Oh! Friend! Yes! Shea and Chelsea friends!" Shea seemed happy. "What about Vaughn? Vaughn want to be Shea's friend?" Shea looked at Vaughn curiously. Chelsea looked at Vaughn with her puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine."

"Yay! Shea had friends!" Shea grinned.

"We gotta go now, we'll come back another day." Chelsea got up and helped Vaughn up.

"Okay! Chelsea and Vaughn become great warriors with Shea!" Shea began to walk to his tent.

"That went well." Chelsea said.

"Pft. Oww, my wrist… some birthday." Vaughn grumbled.

"Let me see that. Hmm, I don't think your wrist is sprained or anything, maybe you landed funny."

"Thanks, doctor." Vaughn rolled his eyes and Chelsea smacked him playfully.

….

Chelsea and Vaughn walked onto Sprout Island to see a bunch of picnic tables set up with various dishes on each table. All of the villagers were there, though some of them seemed uneasy to be at a party for Vaughn. Julia came over to the new arrivals.

"Well, what do you think?" she gestured at the scene.

"It's, way too – OW!" Vaughn was interrupted by a sudden pain in his foot. He glared at Chelsea. "What was that for?"

"Say something nice!" Chelsea hissed.

"I mean, thanks for doing this." Vaughn muttered, tipping his hat over his eyes.

Before they could say anything else, Mark walked up to the little group.

"Hi, Mark!" Chelsea said with extra enthusiasm, jumping into his arms.

"Whoa! Hey, Chelsea." He smiled back.

"We'll leave you love birds alone, Vaughn, your party is waiting." Julia began leading Vaughn to the tables.

"They're dating?" Vaughn asked, a little shocked – after all, Julia only spewed nonsense about Elliot, and yet Chelsea hadn't said a peep about Mark.

"Yeah, after the Starry Night Festival. That festival does magic!" Julia giggled. "Anyway, let's eat!"

….

The food was amazing – Pierre had cooked it after all. As time went by, Vaughn began to slightly appreciate the fact that other islanders attempted to talk to him. Their conversation had mostly consisted of the person saying, "happy birthday" and giving him a timid smile. Though Vaughn felt just a bit uncomfortable being at such a social gathering – and in his name to boot.

Chelsea sauntered up to Vaughn. "How're you liking it so far?"

"It's… nice." Vaughn couldn't remember the last time he had a birthday party.

"It's not done yet – we still have to bring the cake out!"

"You didn't have to do all of this, you know." Vaughn said.

"No, but everyone on the islands wants to be your friend. This is what friends do."

"Throw huge parties?"

"No! Celebrate that their friends are alive." Chelsea said matter-of-factly.

"Sure…" came Vaughn's skeptical reply.

"Speaking of friends, I think I spot a certain someone who really wants to be your friend…" Vaughn followed Chelsea's gaze to one of the outer tables where Sabrina was peering at him over the top of a book.

"Her?"

"Yes! I think you two would be so cute together!" Chelsea practically jumped up and down.

"Just 'cause you and Mark are together doesn't mean that I have to be with anyone." Vaughn said, irritated.

"But look! She's interested in you! Just talk to her – make more friends." Chelsea pat him on the back. "Or you could talk to Denny…"

"Fine! I'll go talk to Sabrina." Vaughn stalked away. He did _not_ want to hear Denny's stories about fish or about how he and Lanna were doing.

Vaughn reached Sabrina's table. "This seat free?" he asked, a little gruffly.

Sabrina nodded, eyeing him nervously.

A tense silence charged the air. Vaughn finally decided to break the tension. "So, I guess you like reading, huh?"

Sabrina nodded.

Their conversation mostly consisted of Vaughn asking the least offensive questions he could think of and Sabrina would nod, though sometimes she would reply with words.

Vaughn eventually left the table, finding Sabrina too shy.

"Okay! It's time to bring the cake out!" Julia called from the center of the party.

Chelsea appeared from the crowd. "Where's Sabrina?"

"I don't think we'll get along…"

"Aw, well you'll have to work on that! Anyway, cake time! You gotta blow out the candles!" Chelsea tugged at Vaughn's arm.

"I'm coming…"

Chelsea led Vaughn to the center table with his cake on it. It was a cow-themed cake and Vaughn gave the smallest hint of a smile. They sang and he blew out the candles.

"What did you wish for?" Chelsea grinned up at him.

"Wish?"

"You didn't wish for anything?"

"I didn't know you're supposed to wish…" Vaughn tipped his hat over his eyes, embarrassed that he wasn't familiar with birthday protocol.

"Everyone knows that… Vaughn, did you never have a birthday party?" Chelsea finally understood.

Vaughn sighed, "Fine, so I never had a party. Big deal."

Chelsea frowned, but didn't push him any further.

"Chelsea!" Mark came running over to them. "It's time to clean up."

"Okay! I'll be there – you guys start without me." Mark gave Vaughn a suspicious look, but turned and headed back to help.

"We'll talk about this later." Chelsea said.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"I want to help you. I think you had a bad childhood."

"Chelsea, just, don't. You're getting annoying again." Vaughn's anger began to heat up.

Chelsea flushed. "Fine. I get it." She turned.

"Chelsea – wait. Look, thanks for this party and all, I just don't think I'm ready to talk about it yet." Vaughn sighed.

Chelsea faced him again, her expression soft. "I'm sorry, I pushed you too much. It's 'cause I get so concerned about my friends…"

"Thanks for understanding."

"Mmhm. I gotta go help clean up. Go and enjoy the rest of your day."

Vaughn tipped his hat to her and went back to the animal shop to sleep, even though it was still afternoon. He was drained from his early start, to the excitement when they met Shea, and the overload of social contact took the last of his energy. He truly thought that Chelsea cared about his past, but perhaps he would tell her one day.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey what's up everyone? I hope you liked the last chapter! It took me FOREVER to come up with the last parts. Let's go on with the story! Finally! Not time skip this time!

The next day, Chelsea woke up bright and early to do the work she couldn't finish the other day. She was buzzing around her farm for most of the morning, feeding and grooming her animals and watering her crops. Chelsea spent a few hours clearing her field for more planting space. The New Year had just begun, and she had to be ready to plant new crops.

"Am I late or something?" Chelsea turned and saw Mark walking from the bridge that connected Ranch Island to Verdure Island.

"No, I had stuff to do that I didn't finish yesterday."

"You mean you already cleaned the barn and chicken coop?" Mark had been shoveling the animal droppings from the barn and the hen house.

"Yep!"

"You should've waited for me. It's not a job a girl should do." Mark shook his head.

Chelsea frowned. She was raised on a farm and she helped her parents with all of the jobs on the farm. Gender roles weren't something Chelsea was too keen on. "Mark, please don't say things like that. I can handle it fine."

"Sorry…" Mark scratched his neck sheepishly.

Chelsea waved her hand dismissively. "Did you buy the seeds?"

"Oh, yeah." Mark fished packets of seeds from his rucksack.

…

The farmers had finished planting and watering the seeds that would signal the beginning of a new season.

"Whew, that was tiring." Chelsea adjusted her bandanna.

"I could've planted a dozen more seeds." Mark shrugged, though his sweaty brow said otherwise.

"Sure tough guy. Let's go to the Café and get lunch!" Chelsea gently pushed him.

"Fine with me."

"Race ya!" Chelsea darted off, getting energy from the prospect of food.

…

"Vaughn! Wake up!" Julia was pounding on Vaughn's door, irritated at her cousin for some unknown reason, at least, that's what Vaughn was thinking.

Vaughn's amethyst eyes cracked open, the sudden light burning his eyes. "Wha… What time is i- oh Goddess…" It was well past ten o clock. "Dammit!" Vaughn said under his breath.

"Vaughn! You need to help with the animals!"

"I'm coming." Vaughn was dressed in two minutes and was out feeding the animals in three.

…..

"Well, I'm goin to lunch now." Vaughn called as he exited the shop.

"Okay!" Came Julia and Mirabelle's voices.

Vaughn went to the Café everyday for lunch, as did most of the islands' residents. Vaughn always sat in the left corner of the Café, away from everyone else. After his party, he realized that Sabrina would sit on the table on the other side of the room, giving her the perfect view of him. He shivered – the thought was a bit creepy, but Sabrina didn't seem like the crazy stalker type, but Vaughn knew not to judge yet. Yet.

Vaughn ordered his food and sat down at the table. The second he picked up his fork, the door of the Café burst open, and Chelsea ran in, panting.

"Beat ya!" she cried triumphantly. Seconds later, Mark came jogging in.

"You got me…" Mark gave a tired smile.

Chelsea scanned the room, looking for a place to sit. She spotted Vaughn, all by his lonesome, and her friend-senses began tingling. "Mark, can you order the food please?"

"Sure." Mark headed to the register to order.

"Hi, Vaughn!" Chelsea plopped into the seat next to the cowboy.

"Er, hi." He grunted.

"Did you like your party yesterday?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Good!" Chelsea grinned. Mark came to the table with the food and sat next to Chelsea.

"Vaughn." Mark nodded to the cowboy.

"Hmph."

"Vaughn…" Chelsea started.

"Don't waste your breath, Chelsea, he doesn't like me, and the feeling is mutual." Mark glared at Vaughn.

"Mark! That's not nice! Both of you!" Chelsea was tired of the guys' fighting. She didn't get why they seemed to loathe each other, but she didn't like it. Chelsea really got bothered when people fought.

The whole Café seemed eerily quiet. Mark and Vaughn flushed from embarrassment. Vaughn covered his eyes with his hat, and Mark flipped his cap around to do the same. Fortunately for them, the only person in the place that really knew them at the moment was Sabrina, though she had a curious look on her face. Vaughn ignored this, though it unnerved him to no end.

"I'm goin." Vaughn stood abruptly.

"Vaughn! Where are you going?" Chelsea began to stand, but Mark put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let the freak leave."

Vaughn whipped around. "What'd you call me?" he growled.

"Mark, Vaughn! Stop!" Chelsea got between them.

"She's right." A voice piped up. It was Sabrina. She looked slightly nervous about interrupting, but Chelsea clearly needed some backup. Chelsea gave Sabrina a grateful look.

"Let's all calm down…" Chelsea said, eyeing both guys warily.

Vaughn huffed and stormed out of the Café, Sabrina waited a few seconds and followed. It was Chelsea's turn to be curious, but she had no time to imagine Sabrina and Vaughn as a couple. Right now, she had to find out what was going on between Mark and Vaughn.

"Mark, what was that all about?"

"Nothing." Mark sat back in his seat.

"Tell me!"

"He just rubs me the wrong way, that's all."

Chelsea wanted to pry a little further, but Mark obviously wasn't going to say anymore.

The farmers ate their lunch in a tense silence. Afterwards, Mark went back to the Hotel, saying he was tired from the day's work – Chelsea couldn't agree more, but she had a feeling that farming was the cause of Mark's sour mood.

…

Sabrina followed Vaughn out of the Café and caught up with him. "V-Vaughn, are you alright?" Vaughn kept walking.

"Please answer me." This time, Vaughn turned and glowered at her.

"I don't have to."

"Please, I want to help you." Sabrina was almost pleading. To be honest, she was very interested in the cowboy – his eyes were purple, like hers, and his personality made Sabrina very curious.

"Leave me alone." Vaughn began to walk again. Sabrina stepped in front of him, and looked up at him, which scared her a little. He towered over her, glaring.

"You listen to Chelsea, but not me…"

"Chelsea is my friend." The word "friend" seemed foreign coming out of Vaughn's mouth.

Sabrina couldn't help but feel jealous of Chelsea. "Then I'll be your friend too!" Sabrina said it with enthusiasm – something that was out of character for the studious girl.

Vaughn gave her a strange look – maybe Chelsea was right – maybe Sabrina had some sort of infatuation with him. "Er…" he felt a bit weirded – out. Sabrina tentatively took his hand in her own. Vaughn pulled his hand out of the hold, he was uncomfortable around that girl. "I gotta go back to work now." And he walked off.

/

Chelsea kicked a rock that was in her path out of boredom. The crops were watered and the animals were tended to, but it was only about three in the afternoon. She didn't want to go to the animal shop, even though Julia was there – it would mean running into Vaughn, and Chelsea felt that he would need some time to cool down. Natalie and Elliot were busy with work, Lanna and Denny were out fishing, and Lily and Will were on Volcano Island, likely having a heated argument about ores and flowers.

"Only one other place to go…" Chelsea said to no one in particular.

/

Chelsea stepped off the boat onto the dock of Mushroom Island. She had no idea how Shea could possibly help, but it was worth a try.

"Shea!" Chelsea called – it would be wise to let Shea know she was there so that he wouldn't accidentally throw a spear in her direction. Sure enough, Shea's head poked up from the brush.

"Chelsea!" Shea came running, happy to see a friend.

"Hi, Shea!" Chelsea replied.

"Chelsea come to be warrior?" Shea asked.

"No… it's Vaughn – he's been acting strangely around another guy – Mark."

Shea took a moment to register the words. "Vaughn is strong. Vaughn will win battle." Chelsea was shocked by Shea's words – she hadn't mentioned them _fighting, _but Shea had caught on instantly.

"I don't know about a battle…"

Shea shook his head. "Vaughn has eyes of warrior. Vaughn fights well."

"Um, Shea? I don't think he's gonna fight." Chelsea was getting lost.

Shea sat down and assumed a thinking pose. "Shea can tell Vaughn is good warrior. Vaughn must settle this by himself." Shea said.

"But I don't want Mark and Vaughn to fight!" Chelsea finally said.

Shea jumped up. "Shea has idea! Vaughn and… Mark… will have peace ceremony!"

Chelsea liked Shea's idea very much. "That sounds good! What do you do in a peace ceremony?"

"When Shea and Wada argue, we have peace ceremony after to make things better." Shea stated proudly. "We have peace ceremony here, Shea will be leader." Shea seemed happy to show that he was becoming a good warrior.

"Okay! Thanks, Shea!" Chelsea was relieved to have found a solution. "When is it?"

"Give Shea… seven days!" Shea declared.

Chelsea was also relieved to hear that Shea would have the ceremony in a week, since Vaughn was not going to be on the islands until the next week. "Thanks, Shea!" Chelsea hugged the wild man. Shea puffed his chest out proudly.

/

Chelsea flopped onto her bed, feeling that she was helping to resolve a problem. She closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Yay! Another chapter! Sorry if the end is terrible…. Anyway, what is the peace ceremony Shea was talking about? Why do Mark and Vaughn hate each other? Will Sabrina turn out to be a creepy stalker? Please review!


	12. truce?

Hi! Eighttails here, wow that was cheesy… Anyway, what is this peace ceremony Shea was talking about? Will Vaughn and Mark quit fighting for no reason? Why does Vaughn hate Mark so much? Only one way to find out…

It had taken Chelsea hours to convince Mark to participate in Shea's peace ceremony – a week had passed since she had talked to Shea, and Chelsea was only telling Mark right before they went to Mushroom Island so that he wouldn't argue as much.

Vaughn, on the other hand, had refused when Chelsea ran the idea by him the previous day. She was currently trying to persuade Vaughn to go along with it… "Vaughn, please do this. It's good for the mind."

"Chelsea, you're getting annoying right now." Vaughn growled.

"Mark already agreed, and Shea had to prepare a whole week to set up." Chelsea said.

"I don't want to."

"Vaughn!" Chelsea stomped her foot. Vaughn whipped around.

"You're acting like a child! You don't even know what happened between that bastard and I!"

Chelsea was taken aback, but she was determined to bring peace between the two. "Then tell me what happened."

It was Vaughn's turn to look surprised. "Y-you wanna hear about it? No one's ever asked me that…"

"Of course I wanna hear about it – that's what friends do…" Chelsea smiled.

Vaughn nodded. "Fine. It started at the Diner – the day Mark showed up here…"

_**Flashback **_

_Vaughn sat in the Diner, it was late, but Nick lived in the Diner, so it didn't matter how long someone stayed there. The door opened, and the new guy – Mark – stepped in. He looked a little tired, but he had a smile on his face. Vaughn tipped his hat over his eyes – he definitely did not want to have to deal with another really annoying person, but – to Vaughn's terrible luck – Mark came over with his food. _

"_Hey, I'm Mark. I just moved here from the mainland." Mark put his hand out to shake. Vaughn just stared at the hand until Mark withdrew it. "Guess you don't talk much…" _

_Vaughn grunted. _

"_So are you supposed to be a cowboy or something? Aren't you a little old to play dress-up?" Mark tried to make a joke, but Vaughn didn't take it well. _

"_What was that?" Vaughn asked dangerously. _

"_Jeez, man, I was just kidding…" Mark said a little nervously. _

"_Go away." Vaughn said. _

_It was Mark's turn to get angry. "Look, I'm just tryin' to be nice and if a weirdo like you doesn't want to talk, just say so. You don't have to be so rude." _

_Vaughn stood, trying his best to control his temper. "Fine. I don't want to talk to you. Ever." And he adjusted his Stenson and began walking. _

"_You think __**I'm**__ annoying? At least __**I**__ don't walk around with an old Stenson and pretend to be a cowboy." Mark called. Vaughn had more than half a mind to go back and punch the new neighbor in the face, but he kept on walking. _

_**Back to the present…**_

"He insulted your Stenson?" Chelsea had a feeling that Vaughn's hat had some sort of special meaning behind it.

"…" Vaughn nodded.

"Then you can tell him that he offended you when we see Shea."

Vaughn sighed. He obviously wasn't going to get out of this one, but he REALLY despised Mark.

As the two were walking to Kirk's boat, Chelsea asked, "So does your hat have some sort of sentimental value behind it?"

"It's a long story." Vaughn obviously didn't want to talk about it, and Chelsea didn't continue prying.

…

Chelsea and Vaughn got off the boat and onto Mushroom Island. Mark was already sitting across from Shea and they waved to the newcomers.

Shea ran up to Vaughn. "Vaughn! You come!" Shea had more paint markings on his body, Vaughn guessed it was for the ceremony.

"Er, yeah." Vaughn was beginning to think that he should have held his ground and not come.

"Come! Shea will paint you!" Shea led Vaughn to his tent.

Chelsea walked over to Mark, who also had tribal markings on his face and arms. "You look… native." She giggled.

"Chelsea, do we really have to do this?"

"Yes, Shea was really excited to do all of this for you two." Chelsea said firmly.

Before Mark could say anything else, Shea emerged from the tent, Vaughn following, grumbling to himself. "Vaughn is ready!" Shea declared. He directed Vaughn to sit across from Mark.

Chelsea had to contain her laughter from seeing Vaughn with paint all over him – and he didn't have his hat on. "So, Shea, what are they going to do for this peace ceremony?"

"Shea will explain." Shea ran back into the tent for a moment and came out with wood and stones. He made a circle with the stones and put the wood in the middle. "This fire of peace." Shea pulled out a pair of small rocks from the little pouch on his hip. He struck the rocks together and lit the wood.

"The smoke smells nice…" Chelsea observed out loud.

"Yes. Special wood. Makes anger go away." Shea nodded.

"Can we get on with this?" Vaughn asked.

"Breathe." Was all Shea said in response.

Chelsea noticed that tension in both Mark's and Vaughn's faces seemed to melt away. "What next?" she whispered to Shea.

"Watch, then you become great warrior." Shea gave her a little smile. He cleared his throat. "Mark and Vaughn, why do you fight?"

"He's an ignorant asshole." Vaughn said.

"He's a soulless freak." Mark replied. Shea nodded, trying to decipher the particular adjectives they used to describe each other and after a moment, Shea ran back into his tent – again. This time, he came out with spears. Chelsea was about to freak out, but she obeyed Shea's instruction to watch – she had to trust Shea.

"Here, training weapons." Shea gave each of the feuding men a spear. "Points are fake – made with hard moss."

"What are we supposed to do?" Mark weighed the spear in his hands.

"Settle differences."

"Fine by me." Vaughn shrugged.

Shea took them to the middle of the island. "Spar here. No stop until differences are settled." Shea walked off after giving the instruction.

Chelsea ran to Shea, a little worried about what was about to happen. "Shea, are you sure about this?"

"Yes. Great warriors do not fight without sound." Shea said, but Chelsea didn't understand what that meant.

The two kept circling each other, glaring daggers. Chelsea could only watch with Shea as things unfolded. Mark lunged at Vaughn, and Vaughn took Mark down with him. They were rolling around until Vaughn pushed Mark off. As they got off the ground, the shouting began.

Chelsea couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but Shea seemed to approve of what was going on. "Shea…"

"Settling differences…" the wild man said.

Chelsea watched as the guys poked the spears at the other and kept talking, sometimes yelling, but Chelsea still couldn't hear them.

After another few minutes of fighting, they dropped the spears and doubled over, panting. Shea saw this as the right moment to mediate, and he went to them.

"Differences settled?" he asked them.

Mark and Vaughn looked at each other. "Yeah." They said.

"Now, make sign of peace." Shea motioned awkwardly with his hands.

"Oh! A handshake!" Mark understood and held his hand out to shake. This time, Vaughn shook, and they looked each other in the eye with grudging respect.

"Yay! We're all good now!" Chelsea ran excitedly to the group. Mark gave her a big hug and a peck on the lips as she arrived.

Vaughn rolled his eyes at their public display of affection. "Can I have my hat back?" his attention went to Shea.

"Yes! Then we have feast to celebrate!" Shea exclaimed.

…

Vaughn got his hat back, and Shea had a small feast for all of them. It was mostly fish with some land animals and various mushrooms and grasses and fruit. They ate inside of Shea's tent, which was surprisingly spacious.

"Shea, thank you for helping us out – or _them _out." Chelsea said.

"Shea did this when Wada and Shea would get into a fight. Except Wada was leader of ceremony." Shea replied, puffing his chest with pride, "Now Shea is leader."

After the group finished eating, Chelsea, Mark, and Vaughn left Mushroom Island. It was getting late, and Vaughn had to catch the ship back to the mainland.

"See you next week!" Chelsea gave the cowboy a parting hug, which he awkwardly returned.

"Yeah." Mark shook hands with Vaughn and watched the boat disappear. "Hey, Chelsea, you wanna get dessert?"

"Of course!" The couple went hand-in-hand to the Café in the hopes that Halia had dessert on the menu.

That chapter wasn't the best one I've ever done, but it's necessary for what's to come… I know the story sounds like it was written by a five-year old or something, but this chapter is the bump that must be ridden over to get on to the juicy meat of the rest. That's it for now!


	13. Chapter 13

All right! Now that the other chapter is done, we can get on to a cute little chapter that I hope everyone will love!

A little more than a week after Vaughn and Mark reconciled, Chelsea woke up with a big smile on her face – it was Spring 20 – the calendar said so! It was Chelsea's twenty-first birthday, and she was about to bounce off the walls. She quickly got ready for the day and stepped outside to start work. Instead of seeing the crops looking dry, they were already watered. Chelsea took a cursory look around the ranch to see Mark coming out from the barn. She waved at him, and he jogged over to her.

"Happy Birthday, Chelsea!" Mark embraced the birthday girl.

"Thanks, Mark. You didn't have to do this…"

"But I wanted to." Mark replied, a smile on his face. "Let's go to the Café for a birthday breakfast."

"That sounds good." Chelsea couldn't agree more.

…

On the way to the Café, the islands' inhabitants came outside to wish Chelsea a happy birthday and to give her gifts. From Taro she got an energy drink, from Felicia she received soba, Natalie gave Chelsea a fruit sandwich, and Elliot gave Chelsea chop suey.

As Mark and Chelsea walked on, Mirabelle gave Chelsea superb cheese and Julia gave Chelsea some jersey yogurt. It was a Thursday, so Vaughn wasn't on the islands.

Pierre gave Chelsea ultimate curry, Chen gave her a bowl of noodles, and Charlie gave her dry curry.

On Sprout Island, Lanna gave Chelsea yam pudding, Lily gave her pirate treasure that washed up on the beach, Will gave her a firefly flower, Regis and Sabrina gave her a pink diamond, and Denny gave her some fresh sashimi.

By the time Mark and Chelsea made it to the Café, Mark had to help Chelsea carry all of the presents that she had gotten.

"Jeez, Chelsea, everyone remembered it was your birthday! Now I feel kind of bad for not getting anything for you." Mark scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's fine, Mark. You did a whole day's work for me."

"Alright, if you say so… what are you gonna do with all this stuff? It's all food or items you can sell." The blonde observed.

"Hmmm… I guess we can eat some now, and sell some of it too…"

"You would sell the presents they gave you?" Mark didn't think selling presents was very polite, but some of the stuff was pretty valuable.

"Instead of giving me money, they gave me things that would get me money. That way, no one has to empty their pockets to get an expensive gift." Chelsea explained.

"I see…" Mark nodded.

"I think after I ship this I can expand my house!" Chelsea was overjoyed to think that the little ranch house she lived in would get fixed up and get bigger. "Anyways, let's eat!"

/

After the mini feast, Mark had to help Chelsea get the sellable items to the shipping bin.

"I can't wait to get my house expanded!" Chelsea exclaimed as the last diamond was in the bin.

The two walked up to Ranch Island to check on the grazing animals. They heard footsteps behind them.

"Chelsea!" A familiar voice called, oddly loud for his personality.

Chelsea whipped around. "Vaughn?" Mark turned as well, startled.

Sure enough, it was Vaughn, jogging very carefully, carrying something in his hands.

Vaughn caught up to the ranchers fairly quickly, his long legs spanned the distance in seconds.

"It's Thursday, aren't you supposed to be on the mainland?" Chelsea was confused.

"Yeah, but it's your birthday today, right?" Vaughn asked.

"Yep!" Chelsea chirped.

"I got you a present." Vaughn revealed what was in his hands – a little puppy!

Chelsea squealed with delight. "A puppy!" Vaughn gave the little fur-ball to Chelsea, and the puppy began to lick her face.

"He'll grow up to be pretty big, so your animals will be safe from wild dogs, and you'll have company all the time at home." Vaughn said, concealing his smile by tipping his hat.

"Hmmm… I'll name you… Lucky!" Chelsea decided. However, at her choice of name, Vaughn and Mark gave each other looks.

"Chelsea… don't you think that name is… erm, a little overused?" Mark asked.

"Maybe, but he gives me a lucky feeling." Chelsea nuzzled the puppy.

Vaughn shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat." Honestly, Vaughn felt content with the fact that Chelsea was happy about his present. He saw this as his first official act as Chelsea's friend.

"He's pretty cute." Mark scratched Lucky behind the ears.

Chelsea placed Lucky on the ground, and the little dog began zipping around the ranch. "Thanks, Vaughn." Chelsea gave the cowboy a big hug.

Vaughn was surprised at Chelsea's hug, but he kept his balance. "Er, no problem."

After Chelsea released him, she asked, "So are you staying for a few days?"

"No, I have to board the ship in a few minutes, I just came to give you your present." Vaughn was already turning back to the bridge.

"Oh, then have a safe trip back! And thank you for Lucky." Chelsea said.

"Yeah, safe travels." Mark nodded.

"I'll see you on Monday, then." With that, Vaughn walked back to the ship that would take him back to the mainland.

Okay! Was that cute or what? I think Vaughn is softening up, don't you think?


	14. Chapter 14

Here we go again! Another chapter! Now things shall become more interesting – I hope. I'd like to thank everyone for reading everything thus far!

Chelsea did upgrade her house some days after her birthday, and she was happy not to have drafts every night - of course Lucky cuddled with her every night, keeping her nice and cozy.

Lucky was already becoming a good herding dog – he kept chickens from straying too far. However, Abby mostly ignored him. He was still small, only a little bigger than a chicken. Chelsea found it hard to believe that Lucky would one day possibly grow to be up to her hips when he was on all fours.

Chelsea emerged from her house, taking a breath of the fresh morning air. She began working the fields, waiting for Mark to join her. It was a cool morning, though Chelsea knew it would get hotter over the next few days, as summer was approaching.

Soon enough, Mark came walking across the bridge to Ranch Island. Chelsea ran to greet him, and Lucky ran up soon after.

"Hi, Mark!" Chelsea gave him a hug.

"Morning." Mark replied, sleepiness was in his voice.

"You ready for work? We have to finish harvesting these crops and prepare the fields for summer." Chelsea said, leading the way back to the crops.

Mark, followed, but a little hesitantly. "Speaking of work…"

Chelsea turned. "What is it?"

"Well you see, er, I need a pay raise." Mark muttered.

"Why? Is the rent at the Hotel that high? Are you thinking of building a house?" Chelsea asked.

"Well it's not that _exactly_…" Mark began, "I have a sister in the mainland, you see, and she needs medical care because she has a weak immune system, and I have to support her."

Chelsea nodded. "I'm so sorry about your sister! How much will you need?"

"About two thousand as a raise."

"Sure, anything. I'll give it to you when Taro gives me the money from the shipping box at five."

"Sounds good. Oh, and I'm going to the mainland tomorrow to drop the money off for my sister."

"Okay, how long will you be gone?"

"Three days – it takes a little while to get into the city where she is." Mark said.

"You're a good brother, you know?" Chelsea smiled, and Mark chuckled uncertainly.

"No… I just want to take care of my sister. We should get to these fields." Mark began pulling weeds out of the ground.

"Yeah."

/

The team of two prepared the fields for the coming summer in relative silence. Chelsea had tried to strike up light conversation, but Mark seemed distracted. Chelsea figured Mark was thinking about his sick sister, so she let him be for the moment.

/

Throughout the rest of the day, Mark was oddly quiet, even as he and Chelsea put some fish into the shipping bin. The only time he spoke was at the end of the day, when Taro gave Chelsea the money for the day.

Chelsea counted out Mark's portion of the money and handed it to him. "Here you go!"

"Thanks." Mark murmured.

"So you leave tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Chelsea, I have to go get ready – my boat leaves in the morning, so…"

"Okay, see you…" Chelsea watched Mark walk away, but she couldn't help feel a little hurt that Mark refused to share anything about his sister, and on top of everything, he had ignored her for most of the day. Chelsea refused to let the negative thoughts get to her too much, so she walked over to see Julia and chat for a while, and get ready for the next few days without Mark's help.

Yay! Another chapter down! I realized that these chapters are super short and this story is just beginning! Wow! Things are beginning to develop, and there shall be flashbacks to some characters' pasts, just any other story out there – not too sure if it's a good or bad thing. Anyways, see you next chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

I'm back! I'm trying to update a little more often, but I'm also trying to make chapters a little longer and a little more detailed, so… but anyway, let's get on with it!

Almost a week had passed since Mark had left for the mainland, and Chelsea was beginning to worry. Was there a storm at sea? Did Mark get lost? It was Summer, so typhoons were a possibility… Also, since it _was _the start ofSummer, Chelsea had to plant all of the seeds for corn and other crops by herself. She had to split the work over a few days because of the heat.

After she finally finished planting the last of the seeds for the time being, Chelsea wiped her brow and walked down to Verdure Island. It was almost noon, and Chelsea was feeling a little hungry.

"Chelsea! Hi!" Natalie met Chelsea at the bridge.

"Nat! What's up?"

"You're coming over here kinda late. Aren't you done with the farming by eight or nine?"

"Yeah, but Mark isn't here to help me, and I can't leave all of the fields fallow." Chelsea sighed.

"You sure you don't need help?"

"It's fine, Mark should be back soon. Besides, you have a lot of work to do anyway." The rancher waved her hand dismissively.

"Alright but if you need help, just holler." Natalie said.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Hey, did you wanna grab a bite to eat?" Chelsea's stomach reminded her that she was hungry.

"I'm always hungry – but I can't. Pierre is cooking for me today…" Natalie trailed off dreamily.

"That's fine. Have fun with Pierre!" Chelsea waved as she jogged off.

Chelsea peeked into the animal shop window, wondering if Julia was free, however Chelsea saw that Elliot was in there, struggling to speak to Julia. Chelsea decided to leave them alone and continued on to the Café for lunch.

Upon arriving at the Café, Chelsea saw that Vaughn and Denny were talking at a table. Chelsea was proud of Vaughn for having conversations with other people.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Chelsea greeted her friends.

"Chelsea, Vaughn thinks fishing is a bad career choice! Tell him how fishing is awesome!" Denny seemed upset – not something he did often.

"I was just saying that fishing doesn't bring in as much money as other occupations." Vaughn muttered.

"Vaughn! That's not very nice! Fishing is Denny's passion, and if he enjoys fishing, then he should stick with it." Chelsea scolded.

Vaughn sat for a moment, and then sighed. "I guess she's right. Look, Denny, sorry if I insulted you. Animal trading is my passion, so I shouldn't criticize yours."

Denny was dumbfounded – he had never heard Vaughn apologize to anyone. "I-it's cool, man."

Once again, Chelsea's stomach growled at her, demanding food. "I'll be right back…" and she dashed to the counter to order.

Chelsea returned to the table where Vaughn and Denny were sitting. The two men looked at the amount of food that Chelsea had ordered.

"You sure you can eat all of that?" Vaughn eyed the dishes.

"I'm really hungry, okay? If you guys wanted to have some so I don't feel bad, go ahead." Chelsea picked up a sandwich and took a bite.

"Why are you so hungry?" Denny asked.

"Mark isn't here, so I have to do the work… I'm not complaining or anything, but with two people, we can plant double the amount, so with just me…" Chelsea said in between bites of sandwich.

"Where is Mark anyway?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow.

"He went to the mainland to see his sick sister. He was supposed to come back a few days ago, but he hasn't." Chelsea began to worry again.

"I didn't know Mark had a sister." Denny wondered aloud. "He never mentioned he had one."

"You don't bring up your seriously ill sister in casual conversation." Vaughn muttered.

"Poor Mark…"

There was an awkward silence until Denny excused himself to go fishing, leaving Vaughn and Chelsea alone in the Café.

"So, how is Lucky?" Vaughn decided to try his hand at small talk.

"He's growing up fast – now he's about up to the middle of my shin and he likes to stick around the chickens." A faint smile played on Chelsea's lips.

Vaughn tipped his hat. "Good dog."

"Soon he'll be herding the cow along with the chickens."

"Cow?"

"Yep! I only have one cow, but she's so sweet. Her name is Abby."

"That's good. Do you plan on getting another cow? That way she won't be lonely… wait – not that you don't give her any attention…urgh I can't keep up a conversation…"

Chelsea giggled a little at Vaughn's stuttering. "I do want to get another cow or two, but I need to expand my barn to get more than two cows, and I want to get sheep too." She paused. "And I think you're pretty good at keeping a conversation."

Vaughn didn't quite believe her, but he appreciated her try at convincing him.

"Eep! I gotta get back to work!" Chelsea began to clean up her plates and gather the leftovers.

"What is there left to do?" Vaughn imagined that even though Mark was gone, there couldn't be that much work left for Chelsea to do.

"I should go fishing and then go to the mines for a little while."

"Why? I know that you have to pay Mark, but it's Summer – isn't that the best time for farming?"

"It is, but Mark needed a raise to help pay his sister's medical bills, so I need to do some extra work to get the money for him and myself."

"Do you need help?" Vaughn didn't quite trust Chelsea going into the mines by herself, but he wouldn't force his assistance if she didn't want it.

"No, I'll be alright. I think after today I can rest easy." Chelsea said, standing up.

"If you say so. Just be careful in the mines." Vaughn nearly smiled when he mentioned the mines.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I haven't fallen down a pitfall in a while."

"Whatever."

"I'll see you around." Chelsea walked out of the Café to finish up the day's work.

Phew! Another chapter down! It's short, I know, and I promised to make them longer, but this one is important even though it's short. I wonder how come Mark isn't back yet…


	16. Chapter 16

Okay, finally, the plot should thicken at this point! Stick with me!

Finally, after a full week after he was supposed to come back, Mark showed up at the docks as if he was returning on time. Chelsea was the first to greet him, jumping into his arms and fervently asking why he was so late.

"There was some extra business I needed to take care of – the hospital wanted to move her to a different one, one that could attend to my sister's needs better." Mark replied.

"I thought you had gotten lost at sea! Why didn't you write to say you were going to come back later?" Chelsea rambled on.

"I'm sorry, alright? I'm tired – I'm going back to the Hotel to get some rest. See you in the morning." Mark said, quickly separating himself from Chelsea, leaving her standing awkwardly on the beach.

/

Chelsea spent some time walking along the beach to think about Mark. He had been acting strange…Chelsea shook her head – no, Mark was just tired from the long boat ride. He would be fine in the morning after getting some sleep. Little did Chelsea know that she was wrong.

/

Instead of things going back to normal as Chelsea had hoped, Mark was acting a little distant – not so much that it was drastic, but it was enough to bother her. So many questions came to mind, but Chelsea felt that asking them would make the situation worse. Perhaps Mark's sister, whatever she had, got worse and that was why he was acting strange.

Instead of how Mark and Chelsea would usually talk and have fun working, they mostly water the crops and clear the fields in silence. Occasionally, a small conversation would start, only for an awkward silence to follow. Still, Chelsea believed that it would all blow over soon.

"Mark, are you alright? You haven't been acting yourself lately."

"What? Not! I'm fine, Chelsea." Mark flashed a smile.

"Oh, Okay… so did you want to talk about anything?"

Mark thought for a second. "Yeah, actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about…" his brow furrowed a little.

"What is it?" Chelsea's blue eyes reflected her concern.

"It turns out I'm gonna need another pay raise. My sister…she needs more medicine, and the hospital she's at is one of the best, so…"

"Say no more! How much will you need?" Chelsea felt compelled to help Mark – she couldn't stand to see him so sad.

"This time, I'll need about five thousand – in addition to the previous two thousand. I'm willing to work hard for it – I'll stay here all day if I have to."

Chelsea felt a burning compassion, and she couldn't stand to see Mark so sad. "I'll give you the raise, but you can work the same hours."

"R-really? Thanks, Chelsea." Mark hugged the other rancher with all of his strength.

"Of course, Mark, I'd do anything to help you!"

"You would? Then I should tell you… I'm going to the mainland again. I don't know how long I'll be, but I need to keep my sister company and I still have to sort out her paperwork."

Chelsea's smile fell. Mark had just gotten back from the mainland, and she had missed him so much. "I understand... When will you be going?"

"In a couple of weeks, when I have the money to pay her hospital bills."

"Oh. Okay… Then we have to spend as much time together as possible." Chelsea attached herself to Mark's arm, though he wormed out of the embrace.

"Sure, after we finish work today."

/

It had been a long day of working to get enough money for the both of them. Chelsea was bone-tired, but she wanted to stay with Mark for as long as she could.

"Chelsea, you look like you're about to faint – go home. I don't want you to get sick." Mark sighed.

"I'm fine."

"Please?" Mark gave her a puppy-dog face.

"Okay – but we should start work early tomorrow so we can spend more time together." Chelsea turned to go back to her ranch. "See you in the morning."

/

As promised, Chelsea and Mark started work two hours earlier than the previous day. They tended to the crops and animals, and then went to Volcano Island for a large part of the day. They called it quits when Chelsea almost fell into a pitfall.

It was getting late, so Chelsea and Mark went to the Diner to eat dinner. It was mostly Chelsea trying to start a conversation, but Mark was preoccupied. Chelsea noticed that Mark's face was serious and she wanted to know what was on his mind.

"Mark, I think we should have a talk." Chelsea finally said.

Before he could answer, Natalie came into the Diner, holding a glass bottle.

"Mark! There you are! I've been looking for you. Here. I found this earlier today." Natalie gave Mark the bottle, then she seemed to get embarrassed. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all." Chelsea replied.

Natalie did feel as though she was interrupting something, so she excused herself and left the Diner.

Mark opened the bottle and pulled out a scrap of paper. His eyes scanned it nonchalantly until he read the last part of it. The blood drained from his face.

"Mark? What's wrong?" Chelsea began to make a move for the note, but Mark snatched it away and stood up.

"I gotta get to the mainland!" he darted out of the Diner.

Okay! Cliffhanger! I don't know if you guys consider that as one, but I tried. Ideas are beginning to trickle into my head!


	17. Chapter 17

And we're back! We left off with a cliffhanger, so here we go! I can't thank you guys enough for reading and reviewing!

Mark had left the islands for who-knows-how-long and Chelsea couldn't have stopped him. Chelsea had been working her behind off for the past four days since Mark had left – again. Everyone on the island had noticed that Chelsea had been working really hard – harder than usual. Chelsea had been so busy that she barely stopped to speak to her friends.

Julia had been helping Vaughn carry some chicks into the shop since Vaughn had brought a new shipment of the little birds. The blonde saw Chelsea running towards them, and Julia was determined to have a good conversation with her friend.

"Chelsea!" Julia called out and tried to wave without dropping the chicks.

"Jules! Hi! I gotta go, so I'll talk to you la," Chelsea was cut off by the look on Julia's face and she stopped running.

"Chelsea, you've been working all week – no, all season! You can take a break, ya know." Julia put the chicks in her hand on Vaughn's shoulder, much to his irritation.

"I know, I know, but Mark needs the money and I need to get it while he's away."

"It's unhealthy to keep overworking yourself like this." Julia stated matter of factly.

"It's just for a little longer." Chelsea started, but another look from Julia told her not to continue.

"You're coming with me to have lunch with Natalie and Lanna. Vaughn, could you finish bringing the chicks to their coops?"

"What? You just started to help me." Vaughn's eyebrow twitched.

"It's bad to overwork myself." Julia grinned.

"Whatever." Vaughn muttered and went to put the chicks in their coops.

/

"….So anyway, I hope Denny will purpose to me soon!" Lanna chirped.

"You've been sayin' that for weeks…" Natalie rolled her eyes.

"You'd be saying that too if your relationship with Pierre was like mine with Denny!" Lanna pouted.

"Chelsea, how have you been?" Natalie asked, trying to make the conversation change from Lanna swooning over Denny to their friend that they hadn't had a decent chat with for ages.

"I'm doing great! My farm is really blossoming! I think I should get another cow and a sheep or two." Chelsea replied.

"How's it going with Mark?" Lanna gave Chelsea a wink.

"Um, it's good, but he's been really sad lately… it must be stressful to take care of a sick sibling hundreds of miles away."

"Yeah." The other girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"Oh! Sabrina! Come join us!" Lanna noticed that Sabrina had walked into the Café. The bespectacled girl jumped a little at Lanna's sudden invitation.

"I don't want to intrude…" Sabrina murmured.

"Don't be silly, come over here." Julia beckoned the other girl to sit with them.

Sabrina looked a little flustered, but she sat at the table.

"So Sabrina, how're you?" Lanna asked.

"Oh, I'm fine…" the dark-haired girl said, looking down.

"What do you like to do for fun?" Chelsea took the opportunity to make Sabrina her friend rather than just an acquaintance. Besides, Sabrina didn't come out of her house (mansion) very often.

"I like to read…and to look at flowers." Sabrina's voice was soft.

"You should take up fishing! It's super fun!" Lanna exclaimed.

Sabrina looked a little horrified at the thought. "I don't like to hurt living things."

"Yeah, I don't like fish at all – they taste disgusting." Julia made a face.

"C'mon! Fish are so good! And you feel great after all that work." Lanna said.

"Whatever, I think they're nasty."

"Pierre does make amazing seafood." Natalie chimed in.

"I think fish are alright." Came Chelsea's thoughts on the topic.

/

The girls stayed at the Café for a couple of hours and chatted about a series of things, mostly frivolous things – Lanna kept bringing up Denny and then they talked about having a girls only sleepover one day.

Chelsea had learned a few things about Sabrina: Sabrina loved to read, she liked high-quality gems, and that she was interested in somebody, but Sabrina wouldn't say. They had all guessed it was Vaughn, but they weren't too sure – it could have been Shea since Sabrina had said that the guy she liked was quiet.

As the other girls kept talking, Chelsea felt the need to go back to work. She couldn't get the image of Mark and his frail sister out of her head. She imaged Mark, sitting on a chair in a hospital room holding the hand of a sick little girl. Chelsea had no idea what Mark's sister looked like, but the image was there nonetheless.

After managing to slip past Julia's watchful eyes, Chelsea made her way to Verdure Island, and she would have been in the clear if it hadn't been for Vaughn.

The cowboy had been sitting outside the animal shop, a reflective look on his face.

"Hi, Vaughn." Chelsea said as she walked by.

"Chelsea." Came Vaughn's low voice. "Shouldn't you be with Julia and the others?"

"Haha, well you see, I keep thinking about Mark's sister – she means a lot to him and I want to help them as much as I can."

Vaughn stared at her like she was from another planet. He was used to most people being very self-centered, with the exception of the archipelago's inhabitants. "Julia says you're working too much these days." Vaughn raised an eyebrow.

"What? No! I've only been working a few extra hours here and there… besides, I want to get more animals."

"Chelsea, you can't get more animals if you don't have time to care for the ones you have now." Vaughn said sternly.

"My animals are perfectly happy right now." Chelsea fired back a bit indignantly.

"Really?"

/

Vaughn insisted that Chelsea take him to see her livestock to make sure they were happy and healthy.

"Chiki says she misses you coming to see her every morning." Vaughn was holding the chicken to his ear.

"What? I come and see her and Peck everyday to feed them…" Chelsea seemed confused.

"No – you haven't been staying with them and giving them personal attention. I think you've been letting Mark feed them and the like." Vaughn concluded.

"I um," Chelsea's cheeks went a little pink.

"There's no excuse for neglecting your animals' emotional well-being." Vaughn gave the farmer a pointed look.

Chelsea took Chiki from Vaughn's hands and Peck came to see what was going on. "I'm sorry, Chiki, Peck…" she stroked the chickens' feathers.

"Let's see the rest of your animals."

/

After examining Chelsea's lone cow, Abby, Vaughn sat at the table in Chelsea's house. Chelsea was cooking something, though Vaughn couldn't tell what it was.

He was glad to see that Lucky was growing and seemed happy with Chelsea.

"Is Lucky being a good companion?"

Chelsea turned around. "Yeah – he's been keeping me company. You hungry?" Chelsea walked over with a bowl in her hand.

"You really didn't have to…" Vaughn stopped talking when he saw the contents of the dish. Porridge. With ice cubes to cool it down faster. "Aren't you gonna eat something?"

"I ate lunch with Julia, remember?" Chelsea giggled.

"Oh. Right. Thanks." Vaughn noticed that Chelsea seemed surprised when he thanked her. "What?"

"Er, nothing."

Vaughn wouldn't ever admit it, but Chelsea made the best porridge he had ever tasted – better than Mirabelle's, even.

"Why'd you ditch Julia and them? I wouldn't blame you if they were annoying…" Vaughn chuckled to himself at the last part.

"No, it wasn't that… I just thought I should go do some more work to help Mark out." Chelsea replied softly.

"You're really set on helping him, huh?" Vaughn was always shocked by Chelsea's devotion to others – he probably wouldn't have done anything, or very little to help anyone. Although now Vaughn felt more inclined to help those around him – maybe hanging around Chelsea was getting to him.

"Yep! I'd do anything for him, or any one of you guys."

Vaughn couldn't help but to think that Chelsea's ideals were a bit on the childish side… he wondered how she had been raised – on a happy farm somewhere? There was only one way to figure out how come Chelsea was so optimistic… "What were your parents like?"

Chelsea smiled. "They were the best parents in the world – in my opinion anyway. They were both farmers in Forget – Me – Not Valley and they supported the community there."

"What happened to them?" Chelsea had been speaking in past tense.

Chelsea's smile fell. "They…died during a storm trying to save the animals. I was thirteen."

_Flashback _

_ A clap of thunder and the sound of rain pounding on the roof wakes a young Chelsea. "What was that?" she rubs her eyes. _

_ "A storm rolled in late last night – don't worry, Sweetie." Her mother, Claire, said. _

_ "Claire, we've got to go and make sure the animals are safe." Came the voice of Chelsea's father, Jack. _

_ Chelsea rolled out of bed, quickly getting dressed to help her parents. _

_ "No, Chelsea, you can't come with us." Her father said as he pulled on his boots. _

_ "But I wanna help! I love Spots and Vanilla!" Chelsea whined back, only naming two of the many livestock they owned. _

_ Claire gave her daughter a stern look; blue eyes meeting ones identical to her own. "Now Chelsea, it's storming out there – you'll be blown away." Claire really didn't like to be firm with her daughter, but Chelsea needed to understand. _

_ Chelsea plopped back down onto her bed, pouting. Jack ruffled Chelsea's chocolate brown hair, similar to his own. "Don't be sad – this is just herding animals… just a little more dangerous. I promise when you're older you can come and help." _

_ Thunder booms and lightning flashes, snapping the family out of their reverie. "Let's go." Jack walks for the door, putting his hat on. Claire follows, after hugging Chelsea. The young girl hears her parents' footsteps splashing away to the barn and chicken coops. _

_ Chelsea hears a loud CRACK and she runs to the window to peer out into the gray, foggy, farm. She sees, almost in slow motion, the dark form of a large tree fall onto the barn. _

_ Next Chelsea knows, she is screaming as she runs outside in the pouring rain, wind blowing her back. Eventually, Chelsea makes it to the decimated barn. Some of the cows and sheep are running wild, while some are…less fortunate. Covering her mouth as she gingerly walks through the wreckage, looking for her parents. Surely enough, her parents were covered by the rubble, her father covering her mother, as if he were trying to protect her. _

_ "Mom? Dad?" Chelsea's eyes welled up with tears. She couldn't look. _

_/_

_ After the legal work had been worked out, it turned out that Chelsea had no living relatives to take care of her, so she opted to stay and work her parents' ranch. At thirteen, Chelsea could only do a fraction of the work that three people could do. For a time, though, she managed with the help of the people of the valley. _

_ Eventually though, there was so much demand for crops and animals products that Chelsea couldn't keep up and had to, reluctantly, sell the farm to a group of people that could meet the demand. _

_ From there, she traveled to the cities on the coast, to start anew. _

**End Flashback **

As Chelsea finished her story and wiped the tears that had managed to leak out, Vaughn realized how strong Chelsea was. All her life she had been cared for by her parents and then they were ripped from her – it must have been devastating.

"What were _your_ parents like?" Chelsea shot Vaughn's question right back at him.

"Let's not talk about it." Vaughn said curtly.

"Please?" Chelsea gave him the cutest puppy-dog face she could muster.

Vaughn was silent for a moment, but after some thought, he came to the conclusion that maybe it would be good for him to share his childhood with someone.

"Fine. But promise me something."

"Anything!" Chelsea was excited.

"Promise me that you won't think of me differently."

A/N: All right - another kind-of-cliffhanger! Next up is Vaughn's dramatic childhood (or a fraction of it, anyway). Please review!


	18. Chapter 18

Hey guys! Now we get to move on to Vaughn's flashback! I admit I'm not all that great at writing sad or angst-y stuff… I try to, but it doesn't seem to work out too well…Anyways, please tolerate my terrible sad writing. Also, I guess I should warn people that this chapter can be considered a little violent, if you don't like ANY kind of violence, then I guess you can skip the flashback, but then again, violent and sad scenes aren't my forte.

Vaughn didn't know where to begin his story – Chelsea was looking at him expectantly, as if she were waiting for something incredibly interesting. He was scared to talk about his teenage years – he was afraid – yes, afraid, that Chelsea would see him differently. No one knew about what had happened except for Mirabelle and Julia of course…but they were family. Then again, he had heard sharing painful memories made the person feel better.

"Okay…" Vaughn decided to start from the very beginning. "My mom was in high school when she met my dad. They went out, and eventually my mom got pregnant. My parents decided to elope and they ran away from home to avoid judgment from their families."

Chelsea nodded, silently urging for him to go on.

"My mom only told her sister – Mirabelle – about their elopement. She kept quiet about it, of course. My mom and my aunt were close." Vaughn paused. "Then I was born. At first, we were one happy family. Then, when I was five, my father lost his job for being drunk during his shift. He was livid. When he got home, my mom had tried to calm him down and he struck her." Vaughn felt himself getting angry at the memory. The next he knew, the words came flooding out.

_ Flashback _

_ The door slammed shut, alerting Vaughn to his father's return. At first, he was happy his father was home, but then the shouting started. Vaughn couldn't decipher what was being said, but it didn't sound good. _

_ Vaughn cautiously went down the stairs to see what the ruckus was about. The sound of crashing dishes worried the young boy. He followed the noise to the kitchen, where his mother was trying to calm his father down. _

_ "It will be alright, we can get through this…" Vaughn's mother said softly, though anyone could tell she was scared._

_ "What are you talkin' about? You and the kid freeload off of me!" His father shouted back, his speech a little slurred as he threw another plate at his wife. _

_ Vaughn was getting upset – parents weren't supposed to fight like that! "Daddy! Stop that!" Vaughn ran to his mother's side. _

_ "It's okay, Vaughn, your father is just a little stressed." His mother patted him on the shoulder. _

_ "No, it's not okay! What are you talkin' about, you cheap bitch?" Vaughn's father struck his wife in the face. _

_ Vaughn stood in front of his mother, glaring at the man he was supposed to look up to. "No hitting." The little boy was too young to understand the situation. _

_ Vaughn's mother held her face – her eye was throbbing. "Vaughn, go upstairs." _

_ "No!" _

_ Vaughn's father stormed into the next room, and Vaughn looked up at his mother. "Momma, why did Daddy hit you?" _

_ "Your father is a bit angry, that's all…" But his mother looked like she was going to cry. _

_ Suddenly, Vaughn's father entered the room, holding a gun. Aiming at his only son, he said, "Good riddance, ya good-for-nothin'." And pulled the trigger. _

_ Vaughn had squeezed his eyes shut, but didn't feel anything. He cracked open his eyes to see his mother fall to the floor. His father began to shake at the sight and ran out of the house. _

_ "Momma!" Vaughn knelt by his mother. There was blood on the floor and on her blouse. "I'll get some bandages and I'll kiss it better!" Vaughn started to get up, but his mother took hold of his wrist. _

_ "I…I don't think you can kiss this owie better, Honey." She gasped for air. _

_ "But you're bleeding! You always kiss me better when I get an owie." _

_ "No, just stay here with me." She stroked her son's silver hair, reminding her of how she used to do the same to her husband. She looked in to Vaughn's amethyst eyes, bringing back memories of how her husband would look at her with as much concern as Vaughn was doing now. _

_ "I love you, promise me you'll always remember that." She said as she closed her eyes for the last time. _

_ "What? Don't go to sleep!" Vaughn cried, no understanding what had happened. _

_**About a ten-year time-skip **_

_ After the death of his mother, Vaughn wasn't quite the same. He became very quiet and stone-faced. He was irritated very quickly and wouldn't deal with talkative people. _

_ Vaughn was fifteen now, and he had a job working with animals at the animal trading company some ways from his home. He still lived with his father, Goddess knows why, but living with him gave Vaughn a place to sleep at night. In short, Vaughn hated his father. He remembered the day he lost his mother. All he had to remember her by were old pictures and the Stenson that had been too big for him when he was five. _

_ Vaughn tried to stay at work as long as possible to stay away from his father, or as Vaughn now called him by his first name – James. James was still a drunk, and still jobless. It was up to Vaughn to pay the bills, though James owned the house. _

_ It was a hot and sticky night as Vaughn walked home. He flopped onto the couch the moment he got through the door. It wasn't long before James stumbled into the house, drunk as usual. This time, however, James was an angry drunk. _

_ "Oi! I'm gonna need some extra money! Fork it over now an' I won't beat ya." He slurred. _

_ Vaughn felt a sudden burst of rage. "I'm the one making the money here! You don't lift a freakin' finger to help!" _

_ "What was that? Now you listen, Imma take what I want an' you gotta deal." James made a lunge for Vaughn, but in his inebriated state, failed. Vaughn ran up the stairs into his room._

_ Vaughn couldn't take it anymore. He should've run away a long time ago. He began packing his things hastily into a backpack and went for the door when he heard an all too familiar noise - the sound of a gun being loaded. He whipped around to see James aiming the same gun that killed his mother, at him. Vaughn ducked and weaved to make sure James' aim would be terrible. Vaughn got in close and wrestled for the gun. _

_ "Let go!" James shouted, kneeing his son in the gut. Vaughn didn't reply – he was struggling for his life. _

_ James had the upper hand, even if he was drunk. He pinned Vaughn to the ground and put the gun to Vaughn's head. Vaughn was breathing hard, adrenalin coursing through his veins. As one last attempt to save himself, Vaughn rolled over, knocking James down and in the process, forcing James to drop the weapon. Vaughn scrambled for the gun, grabbing it and started to run. A hand grabbed him, and out of instinct, Vaughn pulled the trigger to free himself. The hand released. Vaughn didn't want to look – he dropped the gun, grabbed his backpack, and ran. _

_ It wasn't until he reached Mirabelle's house at the edge of town that Vaughn came to terms of what he had done. He spent a good two hours in the bathroom, emptying his stomach of its contents. _

_ If Vaughn had been cold and distant before, he was freezing and farther than the most distant star. After some therapy, however, Vaughn had been able to be more open, but only to Mirabelle and Julia. _

"And that's how my parents were." Vaughn finished bitterly.

Chelsea dabbed at her eyes. "Vaughn…I'm sorry to hear that…"

"I don't need pity." Vaughn cut her off.

"Sorry." Chelsea looked away, not sure what she was supposed to do.

"You…you don't think I'm a killer, do you?" Vaughn seemed genuinely concerned.

"Of course not!" Chelsea patted Vaughn's back soothingly. While Chelsea didn't like the idea of killing anybody, Vaughn didn't kill his father in cold blood, he just wanted to get away.

"Thanks. You know, I do feel better now that I've told someone." Vaughn said quietly.

A third "thank you" from Vaughn - Chelsea was getting overloaded with this new side of the cowboy.

Vaughn noticed that there was liquid on his face and that his vision was blurry. Could it be that the tear ducts he believed to have dried up long ago were still active? He tried to wipe the offending tears as discreetly as possible, but Chelsea didn't miss a thing.

"It's alright, you _can _cry in front of your friends, you know." Chelsea smiled and gave Vaughn a hug. She was shocked when Vaughn hugged her back – not much, but he did reciprocate a little, though he quickly pulled away.

"I should go. Julia will get angry if I don't help her herd the animals back into the barn." He got up and went to the door before he said, "I think you're my best friend now." It was Vaughn's way of showing his gratitude – he knew that Chelsea would be happy to know that fact, as she seemed obsessed with making friends and the like.

After hearing Vaughn's story, Chelsea didn't go back to work – she found that she was far too tired to do much. She did wonder, though, where Mark was at the moment, and if he was safe. The thoughts came crashing down on her – she was constantly worried about boat safety – after all, a storm at sea landed her in the islands.

Eventually, Chelsea fell asleep, waiting for Mark's return.

I personally didn't like the ending of the chapter, but hey. There's a poll on my profile – I just want to know more of what you think about the story. When will Mark get back? Tune in the next time I update! how's that for a TV voiceover?


	19. Chapter 19

It's Eighttails! I can't thank you guys enough for reading all of my stories! As the noose of exams tightens, I'm not entirely sure how fast I can update… So enjoy this chapter for now!

A loud knock at the door startled Chelsea, who had been sleeping peacefully. "Eep!" she yelped in surprise. Getting her head straight, Chelsea realized it was about nine in the morning – three hours later than she was supposed to get up for work.

"Chelsea? Are you in there?" Mark's voice came through the door.

"Yeah, I'm getting changed now." The rancher replied, trying to hold her embarrassment in, grateful all of her curtains were closed. She got changed in seconds and was out the door, ready to work.

"That was fast." Mark observed, grinning.

"When did you get back? I'm sorry I didn't come and meet you."

"It's fine. I got back late last night. I was kinda worried when I didn't see you out here, though." Mark said.

Chelsea flushed a little. "Sorry – I overslept." She mumbled.

"That's not like you. Have you been doing more than you need to?" Mark examined Chelsea's face.

"No. Speaking of that, how is your sister?"

Mark looked away for a second. "She's alright…not any better than before. I just need to make sure she stays in the hospital and she should be okay."

"That's good! I mean, not that she's in the hospital, but that she should be okay."

"Yeah…as long as I keep the money coming." Mark muttered the last part very quietly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Let's get started." Mark held up his watering can for emphasis.

"Right…" Chelsea couldn't shake the thought that Mark was hiding something.

"Vaughn, wake up! It's ten in the morning!" Julia rapped on her cousin's bedroom door.

Vaughn shot up out of bed, disgruntled. He noticed the late-morning sunlight filtering through his window. Lately, he noticed, whenever he spent too much time talking to Chelsea, he would wake up late. Vaughn personally thought it was because talking with her took up plenty of energy.

"Crap. I'm comin'…" Vaughn grumbled, as he got dressed.

/

Vaughn had a busy morning – he had to muck the barn and the coops and he spent time with each animal, speaking to them and making sure they were happy. Vaughn didn't mind taking care of them – he felt more comfortable with animals than people, anyway.

As he was letting the cattle out into the fenced area for grazing, Vaughn saw one of the calves had knocked down part of the wooden fence. Vaughn sighed and directed the curious calf away from the fence. Upon observation, Vaughn saw he was in a small predicament. When he reached for his rope that he usually had looped on his belt, it wasn't there. He had planned to tie the posts together for time being until he could go into the house to grab some tools.

Sure, he had other ropes, but it would be a waste just to leave it lying around.

"Argh!" Vaughn groaned, wondering where it was. He racked his memory for an answer. "It must be at Chelsea's." he said to no one in particular.

"Julia! Get out here – I need your help." Vaughn called for his cousin.

Julia poked her head out from the door. "What?"

"Go get the tools. I would get them myself, but as you can see…"

Julia gave him a look, but went back inside.

Vaughn looked up at the sky. The cows wouldn't get much time to graze today, from the looks of the sky. Gray storm clouds were rolling in from the horizon.

"Got it!" Julia came out and presented the toolbox, if it could be called one, that is.

Vaughn looked in horror at the "toolbox" it was a metal toolbox, yes, but it was horribly rusted and there were only the barest of tools – a hammer, some bent nails, a wrench, and two screwdrivers. He knew the island's inhabitants were not the wealthiest people around, but really, they could at least invest in some quality tools. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Julia put her hands on her hips. "You asked for the toolbox, and I brought it. Should I just go and ask Gannon for help?"

Vaughn refused to be shown up by the hulking carpenter. Vaughn had nothing against Gannon, but he would definitely try to fix the fence himself first. "No. I got this." He grunted as he tried to adjust the support post, which had been kicked over.

"Is there anything I can do?" Julia asked, slightly amused at her cousin's determination. It was strange…usually Vaughn would curse and probably kick the fence more until he calmed down.

"Yeah. Go and get my rope from Chelsea."

"But I can just get one from the house."

"No. Just go get the rope."

"Fine." Julia spun on her heel and walked off.

/

Julia knocked on Chelsea's door. Nothing. Lucky wasn't in house since he wasn't barking at her knocking.

"Julia!" the blonde turned around to see her friend with Lucky.

"Oh, Chels, there you are! Hi to you too, Lucky." Julia was showered with puppy love from the dog.

"What brings you here?" Chelsea smiled.

"Vaughn left his rope here the other day. Was he helping you out?"

Chelsea nodded. "Yeah, he gave me some advice for taking care of my animals."

"That was awfully nice of him." Julia trailed off, trying to think of the last time Vaughn was that nice to her. None came to mind. Well not nothing, but still. "Anyway, he left his spare rope here and he sent me to get it. Right now he's trying to put a busted fence together without tools. He can be _so _stubborn."

Chelsea giggled. "I'll get his rope and I'll come back with you with my tools."

/

Shortly after, Chelsea and Julia went back to the animal shop to help Vaughn.

Currently, Vaughn was trying to hold the broken fence together while shooing away curious cows and sheep. He had succeeded in getting the support post to stand straight up, though the planks of wood that went horizontally on the fence would have to be nailed together.

"Need some help?" Vaughn looked and saw Chelsea with his rope and her tools.

"That would be nice." He grumbled.

/

In less than ten minutes, the fence was repaired and Chelsea had left to catch up with Mark more. Julia took this opportunity to investigate just what Vaughn had been up to the previous day.

"What are you talking about?" Vaughn asked, giving his cousin a strange look.

"Chelsea knows how to take care of animals yet she said you were giving her advice. Advice doesn't take hours to give." Julia raised a brow.

"Goddess, you're nosy. I'm gonna guess you won't give up 'till I tell you, so…"

"I am not nosy! I prefer 'curious'."

"Chelsea hadn't been giving her animals enough attention, and so I told her that she needed to spend more with them."

"That can't be it." Julia pressed for more information.

"If you would let me talk…" Vaughn sighed, "then I told her about my parents."

"You've never told anyone else besides us. What made you tell her? Just wondering…" Vaughn was never that open with anyone – not even Julia, which made the blonde think that Vaughn was changing somehow.

"She bugged me to tell her."

"And you gave in? Just like that?"

"Er, yeah. What do you care?" Vaughn tipped his hat over his eyes, a nervous habit Julia instantly picked up on.

"What's going on with you?"

"Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about."

Julia gasped. "You like Chelsea, don't you?"

"What? No!" Vaughn nearly covered his face up with his hat.

Julia blinked. "I meant as a friend. What were _you_ thinking?"

"Oh. Nothing," Vaughn regained his composure, "yeah, sure, I guess you could say she's my friend."

"That's good. Maybe you'll actually go out and walk around instead of sulking around here all day." Julia said in a singsong voice.

"I do _not_ sulk around here all day. In fact I think I do more work than you and I'm here two days a week." Vaughn was quick to change the subject.

"Hey!" Julia smacked Vaughn on the head.

"Now if you're done with your nosy questions, I'm going to go _work _and get the animals in before that storm hits." Vaughn walked out the door.

"Mmhm…" Julia knew Vaughn wasn't being entirely truthful about his feelings. She just had to figure out what exactly her quiet cousin was up to.

I hope you all liked this chapter! Sorry if it doesn't make sense… I'm cramming for exams!


	20. Chapter 20

Hello everybody! Let's get on with the story! Can you believe it? Twenty chapters!

A week had passed and Chelsea had gathered enough sunstones to raise another island. She planned on raising Mystic Island since it sounded like fun and she wanted to ask Mark to come with her and explore the new island.

"Sorry, Chelsea, I have to get my things together for another trip. You should get Julia or Lanna or someone else to go with you."

"Another trip? You just got back!"

"Yeah, well I need to take care of business." Mark looked away.

Chelsea sighed, but she didn't argue further. She really wanted to spend more time with Mark, but with his sister on the mainland, he was away all the time. The other girls were always with their boyfriends – it seemed that no one had much time for her.

Except for maybe Vaughn, Sabrina, or Shea.

Chelsea really didn't want to go by herself – watching a new island get raised from the depths of the ocean and seeing what wonders the island holds was a wonderful experience.

Chelsea couldn't hold off on raising the island – she was charged with restoring all of the islands in the archipelago.

"At least come and say 'goodbye' to me before you leave." Chelsea looked at Mark accusingly.

"Sure, jeez, one time I don't say some parting words and you're on my case. I probably won't leave for another day or two… but I promise." Mark said, holding his hands up submissively.

Chelsea smiled. "Thank you. Are you getting your things now?" She was hoping to spend a little more time with Mark.

"Yeah. Just raise the island since there are more to bring up later. I'll come with you to the rest of the islands."

"Okay, that sounds good. You're missing out, though!"

"Right…well, I have to go. See you." Mark waved his farewell and walked off.

/

Chelsea had gone looking for Sabrina, to see if she was interested in going with her to raise Mystic Island, since Sabrina seemed like the type to jump at the opportunity to gain more knowledge.

However, when Chelsea had arrived at the mansion that Sabrina lived in, Regis informed her that she was out and wouldn't be back for a while.

Chelsea walked back to Verdure Island, hoping to find Vaughn. Sure enough, Vaughn was in the animal pen that was connected to the animal shop, tending to the animals, as always.

"Hi!" Chelsea leaned on the fence, her usual smile on her face.

"Uh, hi." Vaughn tipped his hat, whether it was in greeting or because he was flustered, Chelsea hadn't a clue. "Did you need something?"

"I was wondering if you'd come with me to raise Mystic Island. I'd go myself, but it really is better to watch with friends."

Vaughn was quiet for a moment, considering his options – he could stay and take care of the animals, then get his ears talked off by Mirabelle and Julia, or he could go with Chelsea to raise an island and possibly get his ears talked off by Chelsea.

What a variety of choices!

"I'll go with you." Vaughn hopped the fence and they went on their way.

/

Vaughn watched as Chelsea ran up to the mysterious shrine that was on Meadow Island. She was talking to something – or someone – that must have really short, but Vaughn couldn't see anything, even though he was standing next to the rancher. He saw Chelsea pull out the shining red-orange stones he knew to be Sun Stones and saw her hand them to the invisible person.

A moment later, and a huge tremor rattled the ocean floor. Vaughn's first instinct was to hit the deck and freak out, but something told him this was the island rising up from the depths of the sea.

Chelsea, on the other hand, was casually watching the island break the surface of the water. Vaughn was envious of her ability to watch impossible things happen and not get overwhelmed.

After the shaking stopped, Vaughn took in the new island.

Mystic Island, or rather _islands_, had appeared south of Meadow Island. Vaughn could see two buildings, one on each island.

"So what do we do now?" Vaughn asked, trying to hold his interest back.

"We go check it out." Chelsea answered simply, heading back towards the boat.

Vaughn stared for a little, trying to grasp the fact that an _island _could be raised from the ocean using some magic rocks that you give little invisible people.

Go figure.

/

Chelsea let Vaughn have the honor of setting foot on the new island first.

Chelsea hopped off the boat after Vaughn, rushing past him as he inspected the grass.

"The grass is completely dry…didn't this thing just come out of the ocean?"

Chelsea turned around. "Yeah…I noticed that the islands are dry when they come up. Maybe it's an aftereffect of the Sun Stones?"

"I guess that makes sense." Vaughn continued to look around.

Chelsea looked at the first building. It seemed to be a small church, complete with a large metal bell that hung on a post at the entrance. Chelsea rapped on the bell, but not a sound rang out.

"The bell must be broken." Vaughn said.

"No…it's not. This must be a church to the Harvest Goddess!"

"How can you tell?"

"It would explain the pond right there." Chelsea motioned to a small pond of crystal clear water that was in front of the church.

"Oh. Right." Vaughn felt a little embarrassed for not connecting the dots earlier.

"Let's peek inside the church." Chelsea was already opening the plain wooden doors to the church.

Inside was very basic – there were a few rows of pews, an altar, and a podium. Otherwise, the church was empty.

"Figures," Vaughn muttered, "the Harvest Goddess is useless. No wonder this place is abandoned."

"The Harvest Goddess is not useless…besides, this island has been underwater for a while."

"Then why didn't the Goddess answer me when I asked for help?"

"Let's go ask why."

"What?"

"I heard that if you toss something in the Goddess' pond, she'll appear." Chelsea said.

"Sure, and if you believe hard enough you'll fly." Vaughn rolled his eyes. "Have you ever asked her for anything?"

"Er, no." Chelsea shook her head. "I've never asked her for anything because I don't see her as a deity that grants wishes. Where I grew up, she was depicted as more of a minor goddess that helped the valley prosper every so often."

"Oh. Anyway, she won't show."

Chelsea grinned. "Wanna bet?"

Chelsea went outside to the pond, Vaughn following. She picked a flower from the ground and dropped it in the pond.

"See? I told you it wouldn't," Vaughn started, until a blinding light flashed and a beautiful woman with long emerald hair and grass-green eyes swathed in white robes appeared.

"Ta-da!" The woman shouted rather loudly.

Vaughn started incredulously – he couldn't believe Chelsea was right.

"She is real!" Chelsea's eyes got big, marveling at the strange woman.

"I expected a more…excited reaction." The goddess pouted, then laughed it off. "Oh! I know, you're speechless!" her voice was like tinkling bells.

"I'm," Chelsea opened her mouth to speak.

"Chelsea. I know, dear – I'm a goddess!" The Harvest Goddess laughed lightly, then turned her attention to Vaughn. "And you're that little boy that asked for his mother back…"

Vaughn grunted in reply.

"Look, I'm not all-powerful, kid. I can't bring back the dead. I'm the _Harvest _Goddess. I'm sorry I wasn't what you expected." She sighed.

"It's fine." Vaughn grumbled. "And I'm not a kid." He added. "I'm twenty-two."

The goddess addressed Chelsea again. "I must congratulate you on raising so many islands, Chelsea! But you really need to speed it up! You've got quite a few more to raise!"

"I will, don't worry!" Chelsea smiled.

The goddess looked thoughtfully at the young woman, before saying, "you look like your father, has anyone told you that?"

"Not really… wait. You knew my dad?" Chelsea asked.

The Harvest Goddess blushed and looked away. "It's complicated."

Vaughn snickered, but stopped when a fish jumped out of the pond and somehow wound up in his pants. "Hey!" he danced around for a minute, then put the wriggling fish back in the pond.

"Whoops!" the goddess stuck her tongue out at the cowboy.

"You liked my dad?" Chelsea sounded as if she were a six-year old that thought the idea of love was icky and full of cooties.

"I said it was complicated."

"Not!" A strange voice came from the other island.

The trio spun around to see a woman with wild, wavy, blonde hair dressed in a grey tunic and black cloak marched across the bridge from the other Mystic island. As she came closer, Chelsea noticed that the woman's eyes were magenta.

The Harvest Goddess sniffed. "Oh it's _you._ This island was just raised and you're already here, Witch Princess."

Witch Princess glared at the deity then faced Chelsea and Vaughn. "Don't bother with introductions – I already know who you are."

"What do you want, Witch?"

"I couldn't help but overhear you spewing lies to this girl here."

"What lies?"

"About you and Jack! Just say it: you were so drooling after him and he rejected you for a human!" Witch Princess laughed so hard she needed to clutch her stomach.

The goddess did not look pleased. "How dare you say such things!" Chelsea was beginning to feel very awkward about the situation that was unfolding before her.

"Are you saying that I wasn't good enough for a mortal?" the goddess gasped.

"No! I'm saying that green hair is a turn-off to humans!"

"Do you want to put your magic where your mouth is?" The Harvest Goddess began to glow even brighter.

Vaughn looked at Chelsea and they silently agreed to run away so as not to get caught up a possible magic fight.

/

The pair had managed to get away from the feuding magical beings, agreeing not to mention it to the others. They could go and find out for themselves.

"That was…strange." Vaughn said, still hardly believing it had actually happened.

"My dad…and the Harvest Goddess?" Chelsea mumbled absently.

"Now that is plain wrong."

Chelsea giggled. "How do you think I'd look with green hair?"

"Er, not so good." Vaughn genuinely laughed at the thought.

"I've never heard you laugh before." Chelsea observed.

Vaughn shut his mouth, his cheeks tinted pink. "Whatever."

"Don't be embarrassed! Everyone laughs."

"Hmph. I should go back to the shop." He said.

"Aw okay then. I'll see you around?"

"Yeah. Wait. Why did you ask me to go with you to go to Mystic Island and not Mark? Shouldn't you have asked him?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow.

Chelsea sighed. "He was busy today...you know, with his sister."

"Oh. That sucks."

"It does, but I'm glad you came with me today. It was funny when the goddess put that fish in your pants." She giggled.

"Don't laugh!" Vaughn nearly covered his face with his hat.

"Sorry, but it was hilarious. I guess I'll see you later!" Chelsea waved and jogged to the bridge that led to Ranch Island.

Vaughn watched her go, and then wandered to Sprout Island to get something light to eat.

/

Upon arriving at the Café, Vaughn saw Denny motioning to sit with him at a table in a corner. Denny and Vaughn had become good friends after getting over the argument over the more profitable career they had some time ago. Vaughn took a seat next to the fisherman after getting a sandwich from the counter.

"Hey, dude! Long time no see!" Denny greeted, slapping Vaughn on the back.

"Uh, hi." Vaughn replied. "No Lanna today I see."

"Yeah, she's still fishing. She wants to catch the king fish that lives around here – have you heard about it?" Denny took a bite from his own sandwich.

"Yes. Chelsea caught it, though it almost pulled her into the ocean…" Vaughn remembered that day very vividly. That was the day he agreed to be Chelsea's friend. Vaughn would never admit it, but he felt that it was one of the best days in his life.

Denny nearly choked on his food. "WHAT? She caught the king fish and never told me? I really need to ask her about that one of these days!"

"Yeah? Well then you should," Vaughn stopped midsentence when he saw a strange sight. "Is that…?"

"Mark and Sabrina?" Denny finished, keeping his voice down for once.

Both men were right – there they were, Mark and Sabrina chatting it up on the other side of the Café. Mark seemed to be acting a bit overly friendly towards the shy book-loving girl. Vaughn's immediate thought was to assume that Mark was cheating, but thanks to hanging around Chelsea, he learned that one should not jump to a negative conclusion.

"Dude, are you seeing that?" Denny asked, his voice low.

"Yeah. I won't jump to a conclusion just yet." Vaughn nodded thoughtfully.

Denny gave him a weird look. "That's awfully optimistic of you." He grinned, "you'll be like me in no time."

The two friends watched from afar, and seeing no real romantic advances from either side aside from Mark's previous over-friendliness, decided to stop spying after a few minutes.

Soon enough, Mark and Sabrina left the Café. Vaughn and Denny agreed that what they witnessed was just a friendly outing and was not worth starting something over.

Vaughn noticed that the light was fading, and it was about time to go back to the shop. After tipping his hat in farewell to Denny, Vaughn made his way back to the animal shop.

The cowboy pushed the door of the shop open and walked inside, hoping no one was home yet to ask about his day. He really didn't like it when people did that. What Vaughn didn't like even more was that now, he actually answered his aunt and cousin when they attempted to start a conversation.

Luckily, Mirabelle was in the back, and Julia was not at home, so Vaughn was able to get back to his room and fall asleep. He had a boat to catch in the morning.

Unfortunately for Vaughn, his dreams were filled with fish jumping into his pants and shirt and he couldn't get them out. All the while, a faint laughing sound could be heard.

Whew! I think this could be the longest chapter thus far! I hope you all liked the Harvest Goddess scene! I'm sorry if parts of the chapter didn't make sense!


	21. Chapter 21

Hello everybody! It's been quite a while since I've updated! Right. Let's get on with it!

Chelsea had been waiting at the beach for a few hours, hoping Mark would be on the 4 AM boat. He had left almost five days before, and she had been at the beach everyday at 3:30 AM three days after he left. It was Monday, so Vaughn would be on the ship, hopefully with Mark. Chelsea really wanted to spend time with Mark, as they hadn't been on an official date as a couple yet. It was strange, she thought, they had been "an item" for quite some time, yet they had never once went out or anything of the sort.

Was this how dating was supposed to be? The other couples sure spent hours together on dates. Chelsea sighed; she should be focusing on helping Mark's sister, not thinking such selfish things.

It was a chilly morning, Chelsea thought, she regretted not taking a blanket to curl up in while waiting for the ship. She could run back to her house, but it was getting close to four anyways. In fact, Chelsea could see the outline of the boat coming towards the islands.

Soon enough, the huge wooden ship docked and let down the gangplank. Chelsea jogged to the dock to see who would disembark. A couple of tourists made their way out and onto the beach towards the Hotel. Vaughn emerged shortly after, and Chelsea greeted him with a flying tackle hug.

"Oomph!" Vaughn grunted at the impact. He adjusted his hat then awkwardly pat Chelsea on the back in response. "How many times are you gonna do that?"

"Until you get used to it." Chelsea released him, grinning.

"Why are you here anyway? It's four in the morning."

"I was hoping Mark would be on this trip."

"Of course." Vaughn muttered, pushing past the rancher. He should have known. It wasn't like Chelsea would wait for _him_ at the docks at this early hour. Wait. Why was he thinking that? Vaughn shook his head and looked back at Chelsea, who was giving him a puzzled look. Vaughn walked back over to her, deciding to keep her company until all the passengers who needed to get off, got off.

"I didn't see him on the boat, if that's what you're wondering." Vaughn saw how Chelsea's face fell when he said it.

"That's fine…I'll walk with you to the animal shop." Chelsea offered.

"That doesn't mean he wasn't on it. I don't go on deck too often. He could have been somewhere else."

Chelsea gave him a small smile. "I guess, but Mark never really does come back when he says he will."

"Let's wait a minute to see if he does come off." The cowboy suggested.

"Okay."

Sure enough, a minute later, Mark appeared on the gangplank. He walked down the ramp and onto the dock.

"Mark!" Chelsea jumped into Mark's surprised arms, hugging him hard and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Chelsea, I didn't think you'd be here." Mark still had a puzzled look on his face.

"I felt like welcoming you home. I haven't seen you for a while." Chelsea said softly.

Vaughn rolled his eyes at the little display unfolding in front of him. Despite his apathetic action, he felt a little uncomfortable. Why? Julia and Elliot were always gushing over each other, and Vaughn would be able to tune them out, but now, he couldn't help but feel like an outcast.

Vaughn cleared his throat. "Well, I'd better go now." The cowboy trudged off towards Verdure Island, leaving the couple to reunite in private.

/

Chelsea felt happy when Mark walked her home, but she couldn't help but wonder when Vaughn had wandered off. It had been so rude of her to forget that Vaughn was there, and there was time for celebrating Mark's return. After all, Mark would have to leave soon, as he always did to pay the hospital bills, Chelsea thought sadly. Why couldn't Mark just mail the money? It would be cheaper and more efficient, anyway. Then again, Mark had to visit his sister, so it made sense that he went to see her personally. Oh well, maybe in a few seasons, things will change, Chelsea hoped.

/

The next day after her work was done, Chelsea decided to go to Mystic Island and straighten things out with the Harvest Goddess. It would be wise to have the deity that controls crops and all things ranch-related on one's side, Chelsea figured.

When she got to the pond, she threw a strawberry into the clear water, and saw it disappear.

Sure enough, the Harvest Goddess appeared in all her divine splendor. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed as she shimmered into existence.

Chelsea gave her a bright smile. "Hi. I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly the other day."

The Harvest Goddess stared for a moment, then laughed, "that's okay, really, the Witch Princess and I have a long-standing rivalry. Her wild hair must have frightened you off! I mean, she could afford to look up a combing spell!"

"Oh, well then, I guess that's it…" Chelsea murmured.

The goddess' expression changed slightly. "You're wondering about your father."

"Yeah, a little."

The green-haired woman sighed. "He was a good man. He saved me from a nasty spell the Witch Princess cast on me, albeit it was an accidental spell, but still. Jack gave me offerings of strawberries almost everyday, and I suppose I misconstrued his feelings for me. However, I had already fallen for him." The Harvest Goddess looked longingly at the sky. "But, he was in love with another woman, your mother. I admit I was surprised that he chose another human over _me_, but I wasn't bitter about it. In fact I granted him a gift as a wedding gift of sorts."

"And that was…?" Chelsea arched an eyebrow. Why hadn't her father mentioned this?

"I told him that his children and all their descendants would do great things and I would help them."

"I'm his only child."

"I know – that's why you're doing your great heroic feat now!" the goddess clapped cheerfully.

"And what would that be?"

"You're restoring this archipelago to its former glory! You collect the sunstones and you raise an island! See?"

Chelsea thought for a moment. "What about my kids?"

"Yes! I already have something in mind for your children! There're these two towns on the mainland and they were fighting about cooking or something a few decades back, so I collapsed the tunnel connecting the towns to prevent a battle from occurring. The townspeople don't want to go through the trouble of hiking the mountain to argue, so no blood will be shed. Someday, though, I want one of your children to help those people get along."

Chelsea just stared at the goddess.

"Well, if that's all you wanted to know, toodles!" with that, the Harvest Goddess vanished in a cloud of sparkles.

/

Chelsea arrived at Verdure Island, still a little dumbfounded. First, she hadn't expected the Harvest Goddess to be so chatty, second, did the Harvest Goddess cause the boat Chelsea was on to sink and wash her up on the islands? Either way, Chelsea loved the islands, so she wouldn't leave anyway. What Chelsea wanted to do now was to find someone to tell about the recent events.

Fortunately, Julia happened to be free.

"…And then she vanished." Chelsea finished telling her story with a little hand motion that mimicked poofing.

Julia gave Chelsea the strangest look. "Wow, Chels, I guess the Harvest Goddess is your friend now. I mean, unless she was trying to kill you when you were castaway."

Chelsea and Julia burst into laughter. This sudden commotion had elicited Vaughn to come out and shush whoever dared disturb his afternoon nap.

"Julia can you keep it down," Vaughn started, but upon seeing Chelsea, he closed his mouth.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Rude much? Anyway, Vaughn, I think you should listen to what happened to Chelsea today."

Vaughn blinked. "Wha,"

"Sit!" Julia steered her groggy cousin to the table and motioned for him to sit.

"Fine."

/

"I knew it. The Harvest Goddess is a psychopath." Vaughn muttered.

The girls stared.

"Crashing ships? Collapsing mines? Then she's lazy. Getting people to do her dirty work for her…Isn't she a goddess? Can't she just raise the islands herself?"

Julia seemed to consider this. "But then, we wouldn't have met Chelsea here. Plus, she's grown enough crops for everyone on the island."

Chelsea nodded. "I don't care how I got here, but I think it was the best accident to ever happen to me. I mean, I'm happy here – I have a house, a job, and plenty of close friends that are always here for me."

Vaughn could not believe his ears – if it were him that had been shipwrecked by some crazy goddess, he would be livid. But this was Chelsea. She would find something to be happy about in any situation. Vaughn bet that if Chelsea were to be stabbed in a dark alley, Chelsea would probably try to stir up a conversation while she bled out. Goddess, that girl was too cheery for her own good.

Despite his grumbling, Vaughn did feel a little mirth in the fact that he did meet Chelsea. When he was around her, he smiled more; something that helped his relationship with all of the people living on the archipelago.

"That's sweet, Chels! And I think you have another person tying you down to these islands, right?" Julia gave her friend a playful wink.

Chelsea blushed a little, but hesitated to answer. For some reason, she couldn't confirm Julia's statement, something that Julia immediately picked up on.

"Is there something wrong with you and Mark?" Julia's eyes reflected her concern.

Vaughn felt uneasy at the sudden turn the chat had taken. He thought about bolting, but it would cause more trouble. So, Vaughn chose to endure the awkwardness, as Denny would put it, "like a man".

"Um, I dunno. It's just that…Mark's been a little distant lately, and I don't think we've ever been on a date." Chelsea responded, some embarrassment edging her voice.

Julia frowned. "That's not right! You should march right up to him and spend the day together. When I feel neglected by Elliot, I do that."

Vaughn nearly choked on his own spit. "What? _Neglected_? Since when has that wimp not been here with you, blubbering out his words?" Vaughn snickered a bit.

Julia gave him a dark look. "Right now, for instance. Anyways, I thought you and Mark spent everyday together, y'know, doing farm stuff."

"We do, but afterwards he sometimes wants to go to his room and rest or he wants to go and take care of his sister's bills and paperwork…"

"Is that so?"

"Wait," Vaughn interjected, remembering the day he saw Mark and Sabrina with each other, "I saw Mark a couple days ago at the Café. He was with Sabrina," Vaughn couldn't say anything else because Julia pounced on the situation.

"_What?_" the blonde began pacing the floor. "Are you sure? It could have just been friendly, but then again…"

"Jules, I'm sure it's fine. I eat lunch with Vaughn or Denny sometimes, but it's just friendly." Chelsea said calmly. Really, Mark would never cheat! He was such a good guy.

"That's so sweet, Chels! You must really trust him, and if you trust him, I will too." Julia had ceased her pacing and sat back down at the table.

"I do trust him. Actually, I think I will go and talk to him now. Thanks for the advice, Jules! And thank you for listening, Vaughn." Chelsea waved and went on her way.

Julia was quiet for a few seconds after Chelsea left. Then, "Vaughn, why am I getting the feeling that you lied to me the last time we talked?"

"We talked at breakfast. You asked me if the cows were okay, and I said yes. How is that lying?" Vaughn said blandly, but he knew what his cousin was talking about.

Julia's glare confirmed Vaughn's thoughts. "No, not at breakfast. The last time we actually had a meaningful conversation, I asked if you liked Chelsea."

"And I said I did." Vaughn shot back.

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, you asked if I liked her as a friend, and I answered you. What do you want from me?" Vaughn scowled, why was Julia suddenly on his case?

"Vaughn, I saw the look on your face when we started talking about her relationship with Mark. And while your expression was priceless, I know you wouldn't bat an eye if we had been talking about another random couple."

Vaughn was stumped. He had never once considered the idea that he liked Chelsea in a more than a friendly way; rather, he had originally thought the rancher to be a nuisance. "Uh, no. I don't think so."

Julia sighed, defeated. "Vaughn, I told you that you could talk to me anytime. Now would be great."

"About my…_feelings_? Just try."

"Please, at least answer this: do you like Chelsea as more than a friend?" Julia looked Vaughn straight in the eyes, and Vaughn knew he was trapped.

Face the music, he thought. "I think so."

Oooooohhh, a not-so-cliffhanger! I'm sorry if it seems rushed, but now we're getting to a juicy part! Yay! 'Till next time!


	22. Chapter 22

Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I updated, so I hope you guys like this chapter!

It had been a full week since Vaughn had admitted his feelings for Chelsea to Julia. Now Vaughn was back on the islands, a little worried that Julia might have told Chelsea. He shook his head – Julia would never tell a secret. Still, the idea of even _liking _someone made Vaughn uneasy. It meant having to think about the other person's feelings, and trying not to offend them.

But, if Vaughn thought about it, he really didn't want to hurt Chelsea's feelings.

Then again, maybe the foreign thoughts would go away if he ignored them enough. It worked well enough when irritating co-workers he wanted to throttle pestered him.

The early morning chill made Vaughn shiver, reminding him that he had to get to the shop and sleep for a few hours.

/

Chelsea was at Volcano Island, waiting for Mark. Funny, she thought, Chelsea found that Mark always left her waiting. But Chelsea was patient. She could wait for Mark – he was only ten minutes late. Besides, she knew he would get upset at her if she went into the mine by herself. Of course, Chelsea could mine alone, but it really ruined her day to have someone get angry with her.

So she waited.

Another hour later, Chelsea stood up from her little spot on the lava rock that made up the island. It appeared that she would be mining alone. With a little sigh, Chelsea picked up her hoe and hammer and headed into the mine.

/

"Phew." Vaughn took his hat off to wipe the sweat from his brow. One of the shop's cows had just given birth. It had been a bloody, messy process, but it brought him some joy to see the new calf wobble with its first steps towards its mother's nourishing milk.

"Pinky." Julia mused.

"What?"

"That should be its name. Pinky." Julia looked at her cousin for approval.

Vaughn looked at the calf. It did have a pink muzzle. "Sure, I guess." It was fitting, he supposed.

"What's up with you? You seem kinda zoned out today. Did you get enough sleep?" the blonde looked her cousin over.

"I'm fine. Let's leave these two alone for a while." Vaughn made for the exit. He was getting hungry – after all, he had spent hours aiding a cow through labor.

"Right." Julia followed, a strange look on her face.

Vaughn took a seat at the kitchen table, a glass of water in front of him. He was staring at it like it had something really interesting floating around in it.

"Is this about Chelsea?" Julia tapped him on the shoulder.

"No."

"You're lying."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Am not."

"Are too," Vaughn's eyes widened, "hey! You tricked me!" he grumbled.

Julia grinned triumphantly. "I knew it! You're brooding over Chelsea!"

"Not so loud! And no, I'm not. Goddess you can be so irritating sometimes. I'm going out for a little." Vaughn tipped his hat over his face a little, in case Julia saw his rising blush. He really needed some air.

No matter what he did, Vaughn couldn't stop thinking about Chelsea - her smile, her laugh, and her overall friendliness. He groaned, frustrated with himself, and at Chelsea, for being, well, herself.

/

It had been five hard hours mining, so Chelsea decided to call it a day. Mark hadn't showed up the whole time anyway. She was covered head to toe with volcanic ash and other bits of nastiness that happened to be inside the volcanic mine. However, Chelsea was able to get some nice gems from the stifling hot place. She was bone tired and starving. Chelsea couldn't make up her mind – which was more important: a bath or food?

Chelsea chose a shower first. With her priorities set, she hopped onto Kirk's boat and went back to Verdure Island.

/

Upon arrival, Chelsea spotted Vaughn brooding outside the animal shop. She took a small detour from her original plan, and ran up to him.

"Hi, Vaughn!" the rancher greeted.

"Wha-," Vaughn jumped a little at the sight of Chelsea. She was covered with some sort of dirt or dust. "What did you do?"

"I went mining."

"Did Lily go with you?" Vaughn couldn't help but be slightly concerned about Chelsea's clumsiness. She always tripped in a dangerous place at the worst possible time. However, knowing Chelsea would be offended if he voiced his opinion, he kept his mouth shut.

"No. Mark was supposed to meet me in the morning, but he didn't show, so I went in by myself." Chelsea replied. "Speaking of whom, have you seen Mark today?"

Vaughn shook his head. "I was helping one of our cows give birth."

"Oh… Wait, you have a new calf? Can I see it later?" her disappointment was replaced by the idea of a cute baby animal.

"Uh, sure. You could come and see her now if you want."

"Actually, I was just going home to wash this muck off, then I was going to get a bite to eat."

"I see."

"Did you want to come with me? To get lunch, I mean."

Vaughn immediately agreed, "Yeah, I'll come."

/

After a steaming hot shower to power off the muck from the volcano, Chelsea walked back to the animal shop to get Vaughn. He wasn't outside the store, so Chelsea went inside to look for him.

Unfortunately for her, she saw something she didn't bargain for.

There was Julia, with Elliot, in a slightly compromising position – they were lip locked in the middle of the kitchen.

"Ummm…" Chelsea averted her eyes.

"Eep!" that came from Elliot.

Julia looked up, dazed at first, and then startled. "Uh, hey, Chels. Didn't know you were stopping by." She and her boyfriend were bright pink with embarrassment.

"I have to go." Elliot bolted out of the shop faster than any human Chelsea had ever seen.

"I'm sorry! I was just looking for Vaughn, and he wasn't outside so I came in here to look for him,"

Julia waved her friend off. "It's fine, Chelsea, really. Let's just pretend you didn't see anything, and don't tell my mom."

Chelsea nodded, burning the image from her memory, if that was possible. "Your secret's safe with me. So is Vaughn around?"

Julia gave the rancher a weird look. "Oh, right. Vaughn! Chelsea's here to get you!" she yelled in the direction of Vaughn's room.

Chelsea couldn't help but wonder why Julia had looked at her funny. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nope! What are you talking about?"

"You know something! Oooh, is it a secret?"

"Um," Julia breathed a sigh of relief as Vaughn appeared from the hall.

Vaughn's gaze went back and forth between the girls. He just rolled his eyes and muttered something about women being strange.

"Hey, Jules, did ya want to join us for lunch?" Chelsea offered.

The blonde thought for a moment. "Nah, I have some work to do."

Translation: "I'm going to look for Elliot."

"Oh, okay." Chelsea turned to Vaughn, "before we go, do you think I can see that new calf?"

"Yeah."

It was only Chelsea's hunger that pulled her away from Pinky. It was that and Julia shooing the two out of the vicinity.

As they passed the Hotel, Chelsea was tempted to check if Mark was in his room, but she knew Vaughn would groan about how obsessed she was.

They got their orders and sat down.

"How was mining?" Vaughn tried his hand at starting a conversation.

Chelsea sighed. "It was okay…it's hot down there. But I did manage to find some really nice gems. Here, look." She dug through her rucksack and pulled out a beautiful pink diamond.

Vaughn took the diamond and observed it. "Looks like it would be worth around eight thousand gold." He handed it back to Chelsea.

"Really? That's great! I didn't know you were so good at appraising gems."

Vaughn lowered his hat a bit. "It's one of my amazing talents."

Chelsea stared at him, realization spreading across her face. "Was that supposed to be a…joke?"

"Maybe."

Chelsea burst into laughter, more at the fact that Vaughn had just tried to crack a joke than the joke itself, but still. She wiped tears from her eyes. "That was a nice try."

Vaughn tried to look nonchalant about it, though the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

They continued eating lunch, Chelsea eating a little more eagerly than her companion.

"It looks like you've never eaten before. You shouldn't eat so fast – you might get sick." Vaughn said.

Chelsea stopped eating, an embarrassed flush spreading across her face. "Sorry – I'm just really hungry." She toyed with her salad, staring at the lettuce and tomatoes.

Vaughn mentally face-palmed. He went and made Chelsea think she was a pig or something.

"I'm not saying that you're fat or anything like that," Vaughn started, but Chelsea just started laughing again.

"I didn't think that! I thought my eating too fast was disgusting you!" They shared a chuckle.

/

Vaughn and Chelsea walked out of the Café, still snickering about the little jokes they had made during lunch.

Vaughn's day was absolutely ruined when they ran into Mark as they passed the Hotel.

"Mark!" Chelsea ran to the other farmer.

"Ah, hey, Chelsea…" he smiled weakly.

"You look sick – no wonder you didn't come mining with me."

Vaughn observed Mark carefully. Mark's clothes were mussed up, as was his hair, and his nose and mouth area was a bit red. He didn't look sick, but rather as if he had just done something on the scandalous side. Oh yes, Vaughn had seen that look quite often when he was on the mainland working with animals. The other guys would slack off and do who-knows-what somewhere while he stayed and did his work.

Too bad Chelsea didn't see these signs the way Vaughn did.

"Yeah, my sinuses are killing me." Mark replied.

Vaughn scowled. He couldn't watch this, but he didn't want to call Mark out, either. What if he was wrong? "I have to go." Vaughn walked off as fast as he could without seeming too eager.

"What was that about?" Mark asked.

"I don't know." Chelsea sighed, very confused.

And that's the chapter! Yay! I know the ending was weird, but I promise we'll continue right where we left off next time!


	23. Chapter 23

Hey everyone! I hope you liked the last chapter, though it WAS a bit rushed. If you don't feel like writing a review, there's a lovely little poll on my profile page that would really help me out. That said, on with the story!

Vaughn was so frustrated, but he didn't know what or who he was frustrated with. He stalked into the animal shop and plopped into a chair at the dinner table. He didn't care if Julia was still with Elliot in her room at the moment, Vaughn was staying right where he was – he would tune out any noises he heard.

Luckily for Vaughn's ears, Julia _wasn't _with her possibly neurotic boyfriend, although when she appeared from the hallway, Vaughn knew the look she had: her blouse was rumpled, her hair was out of her usual ponytail and quite messy, and her face in general was slightly pink.

Oh Goddess, thought Vaughn, everyone's going at it.

"You look upset," Julia was obviously trying to make the situation a little less awkward, "then again, you always do."

"Save the small talk – I won't tell your mom." Vaughn grunted in reply.

"What makes you think I was up to that kind of stuff?" Julia asked on the indignant side.

The cowboy raised an eyebrow.

"What I do with Elliot is none of your beeswax."

"No, but when you guys can't keep your freaking hands to yourselves in public it is."

There was a silence.

"Why are you in such a bad mood?"

"None of your beeswax." Inwardly, Vaughn chuckled at his response.

Julia frowned, "you know, I thought you'd be happy since you were just with Chelsea."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're so dumb sometimes. Whenever you come home from hanging out with Chels, you always seem at ease." Julia took a seat across from her cousin.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Just 'cause I admitted I like her doesn't mean I crap rainbows when I'm around her. Goddess." He rolled his eyes.

Julia shook her head. "That's not my point. _Something_ went on that put you into such a grouchy mood, and I'm sayin' like, way more grouchy than normal. So what was it?"

"Nothing. Quit bothering me." He shot her a glare, which she met with matching intensity.

"Fine." Julia whipped around, "I'll just ask Chelsea what happened." She added before going outside.

Vaughn struggled with himself – should he stop her or should he let her go? Julia could be bluffing, like when they were kids. Besides, Chelsea wouldn't know why he was in "a mood" anyways. It was too late for him to stop her – she was out the door already. He stayed in his chair and grumbled for a bit.

Chelsea was walking home to make Mark some soup for his cold, even though he asked her not to, as he claimed was almost better… For the first time, Chelsea had doubts about Mark's alibi.

She was almost home free until…

"Hey, Chels!" came a familiar voice.

"Hi, Julia. I haven't seen you since two hours ago." Chelsea replied.

"Yeah…so, what's up?"

"I'm going to make some soup for Mark. He's a little sick."

Julia nodded. "What kind of sick?"

"Just a cold. He was kind of sweaty, so I think he has a fever. His voice was hoarse, too."

"I see."

"So, did you need something?" Chelsea looked at the ground as if it were suddenly interesting.

"Not really. I was gonna ask if you wanted to have a girls' night out, you know, with Nat, Lanna, Lily, and Sabrina. It was actually Lanna's idea, since she just got back from her fishing trip with Denny."

"Actually, I'll have to pass."

"Aw, Chels, c'mon! It'll be fun! You know, take your mind off of work and relationship issues."

Chelsea tried not to twitch when Julia said "relationship issues". Either way, Chelsea found herself liking the idea. "Okay, I'll come."

"Yay! Come to the Diner tonight – six o' clock."

"Got it."

Vaughn had seen and heard the interaction between his cousin and Chelsea. He waited for Julia to come back with "the reason" as she put it, to his mood.

Sure enough, his cousin came waltzing back through the door, a triumphant gleam in her eyes.

"Chelsea's questioning Mark's 'sickness' and so are you. You got upset when you knew he was lying and stormed off."

"You got that without even asking her directly?"

"What can I say – the both of you are so predictable, it's funny."

Vaughn gave Julia an incredulous look. "Are you sure you're not a secret agent or something?"

Julia grinned, "only around you guys."

Chelsea made some soup for Mark, dropped it off at his room in the Hotel, and then backtracked to Verdure Island to the Diner.

Mark had taken the soup, but didn't seem too keen on talking. Chelsea tried to tell herself that Mark was sick and had a headache – of course he wouldn't want to chat too much.

By the time Chelsea got to the eating establishment, the rest of her friends were there.

"Chelsea! What took you?" Lanna called to the farmer.

"Hi, Lanna. How was your trip?"

Lanna smiled dreamily, "I never thought Denny would break his stupid fishermen's superstition and take me with him on his fishing boat. But he did… I think I'm in love!"

The women fell silent. Lanna's hands flew to her mouth, but then, it was as if Lanna realized that she completely meant what she had said.

"We all knew you'd say it eventually." Natalie said plainly. "Now if Sabrina said that about someone, then I would be surprised." She nodded at the bespectacled girl, who turned as red as a strawberry.

Lily frowned slightly, "Sabrina, I was led to believe that you were being courted by Mark."

Chelsea's heart about dropped to her stomach.


	24. Chapter 24

The table went quiet again. All eyes went from Sabrina to Chelsea, and back again, as if they held the answer to the new mystery.

Chelsea had a blank expression, as if she could not process what had just been uttered.

Sabrina was fanning herself, polishing her glasses, doing anything to channel her nervousness. She was muttering something about how shameful it is to be "the other woman".

"What the hell is going on?" Natalie muttered.

Julia gave Chelsea a concerned look. "Chels? You there?" she waved a hand in front of Chelsea's face.

Chelsea snapped to attention. "Um, I think I need some air." She slowly stood and, with her hands in her pockets, walked out of the Diner.

/

Chelsea walked along the beach on Verdure Island. She didn't know what to feel. Angry? Heartbroken? Betrayed? From a young age, the idea of forgiveness was ingrained in her head – revenge and rage only brought more hurt.

Strangely, though, Chelsea found that she didn't feel those negative emotions, not because she didn't have them, but rather, there was another reason. But what was it? It was all so weird. Of course she was saddened and hurt, as this was her first "serious" relationship.

"Chels, are you okay?" Julia's voice came from behind.

Chelsea turned around to see Julia and Natalie. "I'm not sure."

"Sabrina said that Mark told _her_ that he was free. It wasn't her fault." Natalie said, "but I'll pulverize the bastard if I see his face." She added.

Chelsea shook her head. "I don't understand – how could I not have known? I mean, sure I haven't seen much of him the past few days, but you would think that there were signs."

Natalie and Julia looked at each other, as if having a silent conversation. "Actually, there were," Julia elbowed the redhead in the ribs.

"Were you guys having problems?" Julia asked.

"No, not that I can remember. I know he was upset about his sister."

Natalie jumped. "That's why he went for Sabrina! She's filthy rich!"

"With her money, Mark could pay off any bill."

Chelsea was bewildered – Mark would never do such a thing! "That's not possible, Mark is a good guy."

"Yeah, a great guy. He cheats on his girlfriend with a rich chick. Real nice." Natalie snorted.

"Did Sabrina even give him money?" Chelsea wondered aloud.

"Dunno. Let's ask her."

They went back to the Diner, where Lanna and Lily worked on coaxing the black-haired girl into speaking a little more.

"Sabrina, did you give Mark any money at all?" Lanna asked softly, as if she would shatter if she talked any louder.

Through some sniffles, she murmured, "y-yes."

"How much would you say?" Lily's question was more of a demand.

"A million gold."

Lanna looked dumbstruck. Lily assumed a contemplative pose. The other three were plain shocked.

"H-he said it was for his ill sister." Sabrina's voice was trembling. She covered her face with her hands.

Chelsea felt so deeply sorry for the poor woman. Sabrina had been lied to. But how had Mark been able to keep things quiet? The answer came shortly.

"He told me to keep it down, because Chelsea was still depressed, and he didn't want her to feel worse."

Julia turned her attention to Lily. "Then how did you find out?"

The exotic woman's brow furrowed, "Regis was torn between joy and sadness that a 'peasant' was wooing his daughter. Yet he was delighted to finally have a suitor for Sabrina. William explained this to me."

The group of friends sat for a moment, letting the news sink in.

"What are we waiting for? Let's just confront Mark!" Natalie blurted out, impatient as ever.

Chelsea couldn't help but feel uneasy. She didn't want to bombard Mark – sure she had a plethora of questions, but she wanted to ask them in private. "Guys, I don't know about this."

The blonde ex-pop star whirled around. "Chelsea, this is not a good sign – stop defending Mark! Can't you see that is an indicator of an abusive relationship? I know it's not physical abuse, but this is just as bad!" Lanna cried extra dramatically.

The rancher sighed. She was obviously not going to win this debate. "At least let Sabrina and I go alone to settle things, since it's our problem."

The four other women grumbled, but agreed.

/

The walk to the Hotel was an awkward one. Chelsea tried numerous times to strike up a conversation with Sabrina, but all she got was, "I'm sorry, I feel so ashamed."

Chelsea knocked on Mark's door, but it swung open. The two entered the room to see that it was empty, the place was messy, as if Mark packed in a rush. There was an envelope addressed to Chelsea on the bed.

She opened it with shaking hands.

_Chelsea, _

_ I'm so sorry for what I've done. I took your money and played with your life. I have been nothing but a burden to you and everyone on these islands. However, I needed the gold. My sister is everything to me. I wish that I could have stayed and been with you, but I can't dwell on what I'm leaving. _

_ -Mark. _

_ P.S. Give Sabrina my sincerest apologies. _

"What does it say?" Sabrina finally spoke.

"Here."

Sabrina read the note like lighting. She started crying. "I-I thought we had something special…He took," she couldn't say exactly what, but Chelsea had an idea.

"Sabrina, I know you're hurt right now," she was interrupted by Lanna.

"Sabrina, Chels, come quick!"

/

After some sprinting, Lanna led Chelsea and Sabrina to the boarding docks on Verdure Island. A boat was about to leave. The rest of the girls surrounded someone, it was Mark, no doubt. Lily held an ornate switchblade; where she pulled it from, Chelsea would rather not think about.

Chelsea was quick to get to them. Mark gave her a guilty look.

"He's trying to get away." Natalie said simply, her glare kept Mark in place.

"Mark, why would you do this?" Chelsea asked him. The others let them have some space. Lily stowed her knife.

"They have her…I gotta pay the ransom."

"Who has her? I thought your sister was in the hospital?"

Mark shook his head. "No…the mob has her. My dad got into some deep debt with them years ago. He couldn't pay them off, so he killed himself to get away. What he didn't foretell, or more like ignored, was the fact that _we _would have to deal with it." Mark sounded so bitter, so hateful. "The boss let me out in order to get the money. She's _fifteen_, Chelsea. They said if I don't pay them, then they'll make her earn the money…the hard way." He started tearing up.

Chelsea felt she was going to cry as well. "But why didn't you tell us? If you had, we would have pitched in and helped you." The others nodded their agreement.

Mark looked away. "How could I ask that from all of you?" he sighed. "The deadline is in two days. They were tired of me coming back with small payments. I needed cash quickly…" his gaze went to Sabrina, who averted her eyes, "I'm sorry for lying to you, Sabrina. And most of all to you, Chelsea. I took advantage of your friendship." He paused. "If this wasn't going on, I'd like to think that one day – never mind. I couldn't write in the note and I can't say it now. I'm such a coward."

"That still doesn't justify what you did." Natalie piped up.

Mark's eyes flared. "And who are you to draw the line? What would you have done if you were in my place?"

Natalie met Mark's eyes. "I would have asked for help instead of ruining lives."

"It doesn't matter now. After tonight, after I repay my father's debt, none of you will have to worry about seeing my face again."

Lanna stepped forward. "Do you think we're just gonna let you walk off with Sabrina and Chelsea's money? If you do, you have another thing coming, buster!"

"I don't want the money back," Sabrina suddenly said, "it's just a reminder of my shame."

"I don't want it either," Chelsea tried to smile. "You need it more than I do."

"Thank you both. I don't know if I'll ever realize how lucky I am." He ran onto the boat just as the gangplank was raised. "At least you don't have to wait here anymore, Chelsea." He added as the vessel steamed off.

Natalie gave Chelsea a skeptical look. "You just gonna let him go like that?"

The rancher nodded. There was another person in danger – she couldn't live with herself if that person died.

"He could've been lying, you know." Natalie raised an eyebrow.

"I believe him." Chelsea replied, looking down. "I just wish he was more honest."

"Chels, you're too good for him. How can you even be this cool about something like this?" Julia seemed as if she pitied her friend. "I'd be in a blind rage."

Chelsea needed to be alone. She had to sort everything out. Only now did the magnitude of what happened hit her: she had been cheated on, lied to, and swindled from. Over three-fourths of her gold was gone, but in some weird way, she found that Mark's betrayal wasn't so bad in the end, there had always been someone else to be there when Mark wasn't, which was a strange thought. "I'm gonna go home now."

The rest didn't follow her. They understood that Chelsea wanted personal time.

/

Vaughn was just emerging from the shop as Julia arrived. "What's going on? I heard some yelling." His words were slurred by drowsiness.

"Chelsea just found out some sucky news, and that's an understatement." Julia plopped into a chair.

"What?"

"Yeah, Mark cheated on her and took not only her money, but Sabrina's too."

Vaughn scowled. "That bastard!"

"Nat's sentiments exactly."

"Is Chelsea okay? Ah, Goddess, it's my fault – I saw the signs and I didn't say anything." Vaughn ran a hand through his hair. Actually, he thought, he _did _try to convince Chelsea that Mark was bad company, but he tried not to be too smug about that.

Julia's face lit up, "Vaughn! Go and talk to her! This is the perfect time to tell her how you feel!"

Vaughn grimaced, "uh, no. That's inconsiderate – Chelsea just had a nasty breakup and you want me to swoop in and take advantage of her compromised emotional state?"

"It's so romantic!"

"It's wrong. I'm not freaking desperate."

"Then at least talk to her. I think she's tired of hearing our voices. No need to get snappy."

"You really think _I _will make a difference? Me? The 'apathetic jerk' among other names? How much did you have to drink?"

Julia shot him a look. "Nothing. I didn't get to drink at all because of all of this drama."

"Whatever. I'll get changed. Where is Chelsea?"

"Probably at home. I don't know how she is able to hold it together for so long."

/

Vaughn put on his usual clothes, all the while wondering how he'd gotten into this mess. "Shoulda stayed asleep. Sholda ignored the yelling." He complained to himself.

It was dark, the only light coming from the full moon. Vaughn followed the familiar path to Chelsea's farm. He did feel a bit nervous, because touchy-feely subjects were _not _his forte. In the past, whenever there was a coworker with personal problems, Vaughn would go out of his way to avoid being vented to. He simply didn't care.

Chelsea had changed that. "Look I'm here." Vaughn muttered under his breath. The farmhouse was dark. He knocked. Lucky barked. Vaughn could hear the dog scratching at the other side of the door, but no lights came on, nor did Chelsea answer.

"Oh well, must be asleep. I should go." Vaughn tried to convince himself to leave. This was his chance to dodge an emotional bullet!

But no. Vaughn's conscience just _had _to surface. He took a cursory look around the ranch. Sure enough, he saw Chelsea on the edge of the island, her boots on the side. He summoned his courage and walked over to her.

"Er, Chelsea?"

She yelped softly, as she was shaken out of her thought process. "Oh, Vaughn, it's you."

"Mind if I sit down?"

"Not at all. Did you need something?" Typical Chelsea. Putting others' needs in front of her own. Or, trying to divert attention from her tear-streaked cheeks, which she quickly dabbed at.

Vaughn shook his head, "no. I heard about what happened." He wasn't sure how to go about this.

Chelsea splashed her feet lazily in the water, gazing out at the dark horizon. "Did you?"

"Not the full story. Do I want to know?"

"What did you hear?"

"Mark cheated on you, took a big load of money and ran." Vaughn kept his voice neutral. "Is that right?"

"More or less. He had a legitimate reason, though."

"Oh really? C'mon – you're still sticking up for him? What could possibly be so worth it that someone would rob another person of most of their gold?"

"Family."

Oh, here we go, Vaughn thought. Chelsea is going to talk about family again. He braced himself for the speech.

She didn't say anything.

"All for his sickly sister? Jeez."

"She is being held hostage…I can't stop him from doing the right thing. I mean, I can earn the gold back, but if that poor girl was killed because I held her brother back, I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Vaughn saw the sincerity in Chelsea's blue eyes.

All he could manage was, "That sucks."

Chelsea laughed weakly. "Yeah, no kidding."

"How are you handling all of this so calmly?" Vaughn was ever-surprised by Chelsea's optimism.

"I don't know, actually. I liked Mark, but him leaving is for the best. Even if he stayed, there would be no getting back together. I'd forgive him, but…well you know." "Besides," she added, "my life doesn't revolve around his decisions."

Vaughn nodded. "I get it. Are you sure you'll be okay? I know I'm not the most sympathetic guy, but you don't have to hide anything from me." he felt as though the roles had switched – now he was the one listening, trying to draw Chelsea's feelings out.

"It'll be fine." She let out a tired sigh. "I can manage. After all, I was working alone when I first got here. It won't be much different."

Vaughn fiddled with the rim of his hat. Julia's words tempted him: it would be the perfect time to tell Chelsea exactly how he felt about her. He decided against it – he would not give his cousin the satisfaction…plus he still thought it was cliché and insensitive to Chelsea. "If you ever need help, I can lend a hand when I'm on the islands."

"Thanks."

There was a silence.

"Well, I'm beat." the rancher picked her feet out of the water and stood up, extending her hand to Vaughn.

He took the offer, noticing that Chelsea's hands were rough from the fieldwork she did everyday.

They walked back to her house without saying a word, until they were standing in the doorway.

"Thanks for listening to my woes." Chelsea said, a note of humor in her voice now.

"I'm just doing what you taught me."

"And what would that be?"

"Just to be there for someone."

Chelsea smiled and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you." She mumbled into his shirt.

This time, Vaughn hugged back.

/

Aww isn't that sweet? Please review or vote on my poll!


	25. Chapter 25

Hey everybody, it's been a long time since I uploaded another chapter so it's time for another one! Things take a turn for the dramatic…

/

In the days following Mark's betrayal, Chelsea was left to tend to a large field of crops that needed to be watered and harvested. It would take her most of the morning to finish with the plants, and another hour or so to feed and brush the livestock. She knew that during the next season she would have to plant less crops.

Besides the extra workload, she also discovered that she was missing some extra ore she kept in a chest in her house for upgrading things or for giving to Charlie for him to make a "magical" necklace. With some rough calculations, Chelsea could safely assume that Mark had taken more than he needed to pay his debt.

After doing the morning's work, Chelsea needed some human interaction. It was eerily quiet on the ranch in the early hours of the morning. Lucky was trained well enough not to bark randomly. It was nearly noon, meaning that Natalie was either tormenting her brother or eating lunch. Julia was probably with Elliot or taking a nap.

Oddly enough, Verdure Island was completely silent.

However, there was some noise from across the bridge on Sprout Island. It looked like a small cluster of people had formed and some arms were moving quite animatedly.

Chelsea picked up her pace and jogged to the group around Regis' mansion.

"What's going on?" Chelsea asked quietly, to no one in particular. Her question was answered by what unfolded.

"Sabrina, you cannot possibly be leaving!" Will was next to his cousin, all but pleading with her to stay.

Sabrina looked as if she had been crying for quite some time. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, as was her nose. The way she appeared was definitely not the image of a socialite Chelsea knew. Sure Sabrina was shy and soft-spoken, but she was a tidy person by nature.

"I must go, William, I can't bear to stay here any longer."

"Yes, Sabrina, please reconsider." Lily said, standing beside Will.

"It's too shameful," Sabrina seemed like she was about to break down any second, "the memory haunts me everyday I am on these islands."

For some reason, Chelsea felt totally responsible for Sabrina's plight. But why should she feel so guilty? She hadn't known about it at all. That's a lie, her conscience said. Chelsea knew something was wrong, maybe not at the beginning, but at one point, there was suspicion. She felt bad because she didn't do anything to allay or confirm her fears. No, she went on, telling herself it was all fine and dandy when it wasn't.

It was absolutely sickening.

"Don't leave!" Chelsea's voice cut through the others' questions.

Sabrina's eyes went anywhere but Chelsea's face.

"Sabrina, it's not worth it to throw away the life you've built here," the rancher realized that all the attention was focused on her, "we're your friends. You can't let one little thing uproot what you care about."

The bespectacled girl actually glared. "You don't know what it's like to be in my position."

The island's inhabitants were staring, bewildered, at Sabrina's show of anger, no matter how small it was.

Chelsea was taken aback. "Your position?"

"I was to be married off to the son of another mining company! It was for father's business," Regis took a step to the side, head down, "then I met Mark. He was the only man that didn't seem like he was only interested in my father's money." She took a steadying breath. "I was willing to elope with him, but he said he wanted to be honorable and ask my father's permission for my hand, but I was wrong." Everyone could fill in the story from there.

There was a pregnant silence, people exchanging glances, communicating wordlessly about the situation.

Lanna was the first to speak up. "That doesn't mean it's over for you!"

Sabrina apparently decided to forget that she had any composure left. "It is! I'm a soiled harlot! No one will marry me now!"

There was yet another silence, except for Natalie grumbling something about arranged marriage and "old-fashioned".

The heiress wasn't done yet. "And the worst part was that he still loved you!" she shrieked at Chelsea, shoving past her and running to the docks, jumping off at the end.

Chelsea caught herself before bumping into Julia. Denny dashed after Sabrina and dove into the water.

The group waited by the water's edge with their breaths held.

Denny resurfaced, gasping as he towed a kicking and screaming Sabrina with him.

"Let me die! Let me die!" she shouted.

"No chance, man." The fisherman said as his powerful strokes took the both of them to shore.

Sabrina lay spluttering on the sand, everyone looking down at her, worry on all of their faces.

"Are you crazy?" Natalie was quick to get right into Sabrina's face.

Lanna sighed and pulled the redhead back. "I think was Nat _means _to say is: why are you so broken up about this? Mark was a bad guy, okay? He was a real jerk, so you should be upset but it's no reason to run away or try to kill yourself."

"That's not what I meant, Lanna. What I mean is: who the hell _does _that?"

"Nat!"

"Actually, I think Nat's right." Chelsea said.

"Thanks. Back to what I was saying – Sabrina, don't you see that all of us care about you? How can you be so self-centered?"

The angry expression on Sabrina's face ebbed away. She looked so hopeless but gained her composure. "It's for the best. I've done nothing to benefit these islands, nor have I contributed to any of your lives in a positive way – please don't lie to me." She gathered her bags. "The ferry will be arriving soon, and I'd like to collect my thoughts in peace." When the villagers gave her a wary glance, she sighed, "I'm not going to try and throw myself into the ocean again. You can keep an eye on me if you want – just give me space."

It was obvious Sabrina was not going to stay, no matter how much anyone pleaded with her. Regis seemed reluctant to leave since his mining company benefitted from ores found on Volcano Island, but he wouldn't be able to let his precious daughter go without him.

Most of the inhabitants clumped into groups as they acquiesced to Sabrina's will, mumbling all the way about the abruptness of her decision. When someone left the islands, if anyone ever dreamed of it, their absence mixed up the community. Even though Sabrina was never really close to any one person, she would be missed.

Chelsea kept looking back as she, Julia, and Natalie walked towards the bridge. Denny and Lanna stayed behind to keep an eye on Sabrina. Will was still pleading with his uncle to stay.

The huge ship that would carry Sabrina and her father away was coming closer. Still, Chelsea felt responsible for the unhappiness the other woman felt. Maybe if Chelsea had been honest with herself, Sabrina could have gotten married to Mark and then have paid the ransom for Mark's sister.

"Something wrong?" Julia's voice cut through Chelsea's thoughts.

"I'm just stunned that one lie can ruin lives."

Natalie snorted. "Seriously? Wow, I'm sorry, I guess you were pretty lucky as a kid." Her grin faded. "You wanna know how much a lie can screw a life over? Ask Lanna. She says she's living here to work on her singing away from the public eye, but in reality, she's running from the paparazzi."

"Why?"

"It's not our place to tell," Julia cut in, giving Natalie a pointed glare.

"All right, all right – I won't say it, although I'm kinda surprised you don't know…but it was real nasty."

"Oh."

"Today's…surprise aside, Chelsea, would you mind taking in a cat? I know it's a random question, but I forgot to ask you earlier. Vaughn got stuck with some cats and needs to find homes for them." Julia laughed awkwardly.

The weird part was, Chelsea honed in the second Vaughn's name came up. She took a moment to register the request. "Uh, sure! I'll take one of those little cuties! I hope he or she will get along with Lucky."

The blonde gave Chelsea a strange look. "Okay, I'll send him to your ranch tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow's Monday, remember?"

Chelsea smacked herself on the forehead. "That's right! Silly me, how can I forget stuff like that?" Except she hadn't forgotten. Chelsea found that she would anticipate Mondays for quite some time now.

The girls laughed, despite the drama that reared its ugly head just minutes before. Everything would settle down and return to normal, come Monday.

/

I consider this a very dramatic chapter, though not the most dramatic one I've read… I know to some it's like "wow, this is such a weenie attempt at drama" but I hope you enjoyed it. I don't mean this as a Sabrina-bashing thing, but she seems the most likely to snap. See you next chapter!


	26. Chapter 26

Vaughn disembarked from the ferry feeling extremely sluggish as usual. As much as he abhorred Mondays and the long boat-rides that came with them, he was beginning to warm up to the idea of being back on the islands every Monday and Tuesday.

A wriggling in his duffle bag reminded him that he was carrying another passenger. It was chilly now that Vaughn thought about it. He peeked in the bag to see one of the kittens that were put into his care. The small, gray fluff-ball looked up at him, wide green eyes telling him to hurry up and get to someplace warm.

"All right, all right, I'm going." He whispered to the little animal. "You're gonna love your new home."

As Vaughn walked to the shop since it was too early to disturb Chelsea, he was confused as to what happened the previous day. He had gotten a phone call from Julia; most of it was frantic chatter about leaping off the dock or something with the most relevant sentence to him being "Oh yeah, Chelsea said she'll adopt a kitten." Vaughn knew it was rude to zone out while his cousin was talking, but he couldn't help it.

Bad habits are hard to break after all.

Besides, Julia would probably tell him the whole story again… Vaughn shuttered at the idea, but resigned himself to pay attention to make up for his impoliteness.

/

"…and that's what happened yesterday." Said Julia, who was ready and waiting to talk on about the drama of the previous day. "Oh look at the time!" the blonde giggled, as if there was some sort of joke associated with six in the morning.

The cowboy gave her a strange look. "What's so funny?"

"Don't play coy, Vaughn, I know that you're excited to drop off that kitten. I think you'd be happy for any excuse to see Chelsea."

"You still on that? Jeez." He fought the rising blush rushing to his cheeks. "I should've kept my mouth shut."

"But you didn't and now everyone on the island knows!"

Vaughn swore he could feel his stomach drop through his body and onto the floor. Suddenly he felt cold and clammy. "Y-you told,"

Julia burst into laughter. "I wish…I wish you could've seen your face just then!" she wiped tears from her eyes.

"Whatever," he grumbled. "I'm gonna go drop off the kitten. Can you do that favor I asked you about yesterday?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Go get 'er!"

With that, Vaughn gathered the small animal in his arms and marched off to Chelsea's ranch.

/

Chelsea was watering her crops, Lucky staying by her side as well as doing his duty of herding the animals. The dog barked and ran towards the bridge of Ranch Island.

The farmer turned to see where her companion ran off. Vaughn was being bombarded by doggy kisses from the large canine. Chelsea giggled to herself and went to meet Vaughn.

"Down, Lucky." She said, and Lucky trotted over to Chelsea.

"Thanks," Vaughn muttered. "I brought your new kitten." He held up the furry creature.

Chelsea could feel her heart melt at the sight of the little kitty. She took the cat into her arms and felt it nuzzle her chest. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"She's female, so you don't have to worry about her marking territory."

"Awww, she's so cute! Does she already have a name?"

"Er, no."

"Oh. Let's see…what shall I name you?" She examined the kitten for a few seconds. "I know! I'll call you Jade. Look at her eyes, they're jade green."

Vaughn shrugged. "She's your cat. Name her whatever you want." Chelsea saw him look over at Lucky.

"He's big, isn't he?" Chelsea patted the dog on the head.

"Yeah. I knew he would be, so he could help herd the livestock and be a guard dog if you ever needed one."

Chelsea grinned. "I don't think I need a guard dog, but little Jade here might." She slowly introduced Lucky to Jade, allowing them to touch noses. With no negative reaction from either, she put Jade on the grass to let her explore. Lucky seemed to think the kitten was a tiny cow and began gently nudging her to the grass. However, Jade did not seem to appreciate being bossed around and hissed at the big dog, who then seemed confused at the strange noise.

"I think those two will get along well." Vaughn observed.

"You think?" Chelsea glanced up at Vaughn to see that he was looking right back at her. His eyes were a deep violet. She shook her head a little to clear her head of the strange thought that had occurred to her.

"I was a little worried at first, since Lucky's all grown up. I thought he might not take to her."

"You worry too much!" Chelsea nudged his arm playfully.

"Hey!" he grumbled, but cracked one of his rare half-smiles. "You hungry?"

/

"Where are we going?" Chelsea asked as she followed Vaughn towards Kirk's boat. "I thought we were gonna eat lunch?"

"We are."

"Okay." She was confused, but kept walking.

/

Vaughn led her to Meadow Island where he wasted no time in laying out a picnic.

"How'd you get that basket?" Chelsea inquired.

Vaughn tipped his hat. "I had Julia give it to Kirk."

The rancher nodded. "To make sure Jade wouldn't get into the food?"

"Sure, you could say that."

"Wait. Did Julia cook this?" Chelsea was suddenly concerned for their health. Unless Julia had improved her cooking skills, their bellies were in for a nasty surprise.

Vaughn gave her an incredulous look. "What? I wouldn't let her cook for me if I was starving to death." They shared a laugh, or in Vaughn's case, a snort of derision.

"So what's the occasion for this tasty-looking picnic?"

"To get away from all of whatever the hell is going on over there." The cowboy motioned to the main islands. "I heard about what happened. It didn't sound too pretty."

Chelsea fell back onto the soft grass and sighed heavily. "It wasn't. Can we not talk about it yet?"

"Okay," Vaughn handed her a sandwich, "I hope you like turkey."

She sat up and accepted the food. She took a bite. "Hey, this is really good. Did you make it?"

"What? Are you shocked?" he asked, feigning offense.

She flushed a little. "No! It's just I,"

"It's fine. I live by myself, so I had to learn fast. It helps that I stayed with Aunt Mirabelle for a while."

"Ah. Why don't you just move here? I mean, you could handle business from the islands, right? Wouldn't it be easier to stay in one place instead of having to take a ship every week?" Chelsea realized she'd asked so many questions at once and felt like a child in a classroom.

She noticed how Vaughn stiffened. "Er, my boss makes me go around to different regions and deliver animals, so I need to make trips often." He paused, "though it's not like I haven't thought about living here permanently." He glanced at her quickly.

"Oh. If you had a choice would you stay?"

"Yeah. I like it here. There're not as many whiney, helpless, irresponsible people."

The rancher couldn't help but think that his comment was somehow directed at her. "Sorry." She blurted out.

"What for?"

"For being irresponsible and,"

"I wasn't talking about you," he cut her off, "I was talking about my cousin…and Lanna."

"Lanna?"

Vaughn gave her a look. "You honestly don't get bored when you listen to her talk about Denny?"

Chelsea shook her head. "I don't mind it too much. It's not too bad, I mean, she found the man she wants to spend her life with. I think it's a good thing."

"If you say so."

"C'mon, you're saying you wouldn't do the same?"

"Er, you know whom you're talking with right?" he looked uncomfortable with the turn the conversation was taking.

Chelsea took the hint and focused on her sandwich for some time. She noticed that Vaughn would glance over at her every so often. For some reason, she felt like they were teenagers in school sneaking peeks at each other.

Surprisingly, Vaughn broke the awkward silence. "Between you and me, I would live here if I had a choice."

"What's so secret about that?"

"I'd never hear the end of it from you know who."

"Julia's just really concerned about you. I'm sure she's trying to help you in her own way."

Vaughn chuckled lightly. "I know. It's annoying, but I understand. She's like a sister to me." He looked back towards Verdure Island.

"You've changed," she said.

"What?"

"Did I say that out loud?" her cheeks began to turn a light pink. "What I meant to say was that you changed in a good way."

"I don't follow."

"You're more talkative and you smile more." Chelsea said.

The cowboy tipped his hat low over his eyes. "Do I? You must be suffering from heatstroke."

Chelsea nudged him playfully. "C'mon! You seem happier, that's all."

"That's strange because Natalie slapped me across the face pretty recently." He muttered.

"That's how she is – you said something about her hair, didn't you?"

Vaughn smirked. "I might have."

She bumped him on the arm. "Well no wonder! You shouldn't insult her."

"Why? Is she one of those girls who acts mean but has a sensitive inside?" he smirked.

"No, I'm more concerned for your wellbeing." Chelsea knew that Natalie could get quite violent when agitated enough.

"Huh?"

"Well this one time, around the time I moved here, a tourist made some sort of remark about her hair and she scared him so much that he went sprinting back to the boat."

Vaughn paled. "I uh, I didn't know. I guess I should go and apologize then."

"I didn't mean to intimidate you – but it's probably best if you do make amends." Chelsea said quickly. _I keep running my mouth off when I'm around him! _

"I don't want to have to watch my back around her. I'll talk to Natalie." It dawned on Chelsea how much Vaughn had grown as a person.

"That's great," she smiled at him.

"Though I feel sorry for Pierre," He snickered, "what? Don't tell me that you're not thinking the same thing."

She shook her head.

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

Vaughn stared at her. "You really are a good person."

"Huh? I don't follow."

"You're always putting others before yourself, you never seem to get pissed off for any reason, and I've never once heard you complain about someone else's flaws."

Chelsea was bewildered at the change of topic. What was Vaughn trying to get at? "Still not following."

Vaughn sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that you're _too _good. _Too _kind. I think that's your problem."

"What problem?"

"This whole Mark fiasco. I know you don't want to talk about it just yet, but I don't want this to happen to you again."

It was true that Chelsea didn't want to think about the drama and what caused it. She believed it was already water under the bridge – a horrible series of events that she needed to move on from. "Vaughn, I really don't see how being too kind causes those sorts of things to happen. Besides, I'm not too nice,"

"Chelsea, hear me out, please," he implored before going on, "I get that you grew up in a peaceful place, but it's made you naïve. You put your trust in anyone who gives you a smile and friendly words. Mark took advantage of that. You couldn't see that he was using you because you don't think anyone is truly corrupt. And if you did suspect anything, you denied it."

All Chelsea could do was to sit and take in Vaughn's reasoning. She was dumbfounded by his conclusion. "So you're telling me that it was all my fault this happened? That Mark betrayed our trust? That I ruined Sabrina's life?" she was suddenly filled with despair. She stood up to leave.

"Yes – no! No!" Vaughn shot up to stop her. "Goddess, I suck at phrasing things nicely!" he took her hand gently and motioned for her to sit back down. Chelsea hesitantly complied.

"Then what are you talking about?" she didn't remove her hand from his. Rather, the contact kept her anchored with all the emotions swirling and tumbling about in her mind.

"It's just that I hated watching you get used by that bastard. I regret not doing anything about it and I beat myself up about it all the time. I know I should've said something to you – anything." He took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry, Chelsea. I failed you as a friend."

Vaughn looked so remorseful! Chelsea didn't know what to say or how to comfort him. _First he tells me I'm too nice and now he thinks he's a terrible friend? _If it were possible for her to be more confused than she already was, Chelsea was. "Vaughn, you didn't fail me. Please, let's talk about something else." She didn't like seeing Vaughn look so melancholy. In fact, Chelsea had only seen the grouchy and content sides of Vaughn. She'd take either over his miserable one.

"I can't stand by and watch people take advantage of you! Don't you see that,"

Chelsea held up her free hand to silence him. "Sorry for interrupting, but something like that probably isn't going to happen again. I can handle myself."

Vaughn's grip on her hand tightened a fraction. "I know you can handle yourself just fine…look, what I'm trying to say is that I'm bringing all of this up because…because I have feelings for you." He blushed deeply, averting his gaze.

_What? He couldn't possibly mean… _Chelsea's heartbeat picked up. _Did he get all worked up to tell me that he fancies me? _"This is the most…interesting way to confess," she started, "but it's definitely the most original." Chelsea made an attempt to laugh though it came out like an awkward cough.

The cowboy released her and buried his head in his hands as if he'd realized that he'd done something wrong. "I knew I would screw it up… I knew,"

"Knew what?"

"Ah, never mind!" Vaughn seemed panicked, like a startled horse in a narrow stall. "Pretend I never said anything."

"No. I won't pretend you said anything because I feel the same way." No sooner than she finished saying it that Chelsea understood what her words meant. The more she thought about it, though, she knew she'd meant every last one.

Vaughn's head snapped up. "You do?"

"Well, yeah."

Vaughn gave her an incredulous look. "Don't just say that to make me feel better."

Chelsea shook her head. "You know I don't like to lie."

"When did you know you, er, had these feelings?"

It wasn't hard to make the connections. "I guess I've always had an interest in you, ever since I met you."

"Seriously?"

"Yep!"

"Oh."

"Why do you ask? If you don't mind, could you tell me when you started to,"

"You don't wanna hear about it."

"Please?"

"Okay, okay I'll tell you," he grumbled, "but you might not think it's very cute." Vaughn took a deep breath. "To be honest, when I first met you, I hated you like I hated everyone else on the islands. Well hate is a strong word. More like annoyed me to no end."

Chelsea was saddened to hear it, but listened on.

"You followed me around and tried to make conversation…but then I started to look forward to seeing you. And then Mark had to ruin everything for everyone – especially you. I only wish I was there the night he ran away like the coward he is."

"Vaughn, it's fine, really."

"No, Chelsea, it's not. I wanted to say something so badly, but I thought you would cut me off if I did."

"That's silly, Vaughn, I'd never do something like that."

"I know. I," Chelsea cut him off with a hug, which he returned.

They stayed in their embrace for some time, enjoying each other's company. Chelsea took comfort in Vaughn's arms, letting all of the stress of the past days melt away.

/

**How was that? I know it's been a while since I updated…Hoped you liked this chapter!**


	27. Chapter 27

** Whoa, it's been some time, hasn't it? Hoped you liked the last chapter, because here's where I think my storyline actually seems more original (insert gasp here)! **

**/**

For eight days spread out over the course of Summer, Vaughn and Chelsea gently nurtured the budding feelings that had begun to bloom between them. For once in his life, Vaughn felt content. Only Julia knew of their relationship shift, much to Chelsea's dismay. Vaughn knew Chelsea hated keeping secrets from the others, but he was afraid for some reason. Vaughn promised he would get comfortable with their status as fast as he could, so Chelsea could share the news.

Everything was fine.

Too fine, for Vaughn's taste. He stared at the ceiling in his room at the animal shop, lying on his bed. "Gah, I'm over thinking this." He muttered to himself. Still, it was odd how easily Chelsea accepted his confession and how freely she shared her own. How was it possible that a woman as pure-hearted and kind as Chelsea could return feelings for…_him_? "Goddess, I'm so lucky…the Goddess!" a sudden burning thought jolted him out of his bed.

It all made sense – Vaughn clearly remembered the encounter with the Harvest Goddess. According to the deity, Chelsea's entire life was dedicated to making others' lives better, to be a hero of sorts. Vaughn felt sick. What if Chelsea only liked him because of some sort of magic that compelled her to help people? It wouldn't be right, no matter what Chelsea would say, because she wouldn't be in control of her own words. With a solemn resolution, Vaughn set off to put his suspicion at ease.

/

Vaughn had walked out of the shop without so much as a word to his cousin or aunt, causing Julia to shout something profane in his direction. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to give a rat's ass. He boarded Kirk's boat, only growling "Mystic Island," to the skipper. Kirk hurriedly cast off to the specified destination.

/

Vaughn leapt off the boat before it was docked and stormed over to the goddess pond. He looked around for something to throw in and wrenched a magic flower out of the ground, roots and all, and hurled it into the crystal clear water. At first, there was nothing, but Vaughn waited for the telltale shimmer in the air.

"Ta-DA!" the Harvest Goddess came into existence with a flourish of sparkles. "Thanks for the offering, though next time you shouldn't leave the dirt clump," she paused to see who had thrown the item. Her radiant smile dimmed. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, me."

The deity regarded him with mild distaste. "Did you need something?"

Vaughn didn't mince his words. "You said that Chelsea's life is a fulfillment of some promise you made because you couldn't have her father. Is her returning my feelings a part of this crap? Are you manipulating her?"

The Harvest Goddess looked positively scandalized. "Are you accusing me of forcing someone to love another? I'll have you know that I am also the goddess of romance! I couldn't possibly,"

"That's exactly why I'm asking, and you better have answers."

An indignant anger flickered behind her emerald eyes. "I may have brought her to these islands," she started with a huff, "and I may have guided her here and there when it came to raising the sunken ones, but any relationships she built here were of her own volition."

Vaughn didn't believe it for one second. "I don't buy it."

The Harvest Goddess shook her head. "Why can't you accept the facts, Vaughn? That Chelsea cares for you, keeps you in her thoughts? Why do you attribute any positive event in your life to divine meddling? Don't you know that humans decide their own fates?"

"You're not letting Chelsea choose hers." He protested. "I want her to be happy, and if you're making her stay here and be with me, then I don't want any of it."

"She had the ability to leave this place, but she didn't. In fact, she could leave here right now if she so wills it." She eyed him critically. "You say you want her to be happy, yet here you are, doubting her feelings for you."

There was no talking to the goddess! Vaughn was getting frustrated with the sanctimonious replies the divine woman was spewing out. "I just don't want her good intentions to be taken advantage of."

"Then you're a fool. Silly man, that's what she's learned from you. Now, you should stop accusing me of 'meddling' and be happy that she feels the same way." There was flicker of sadness behind the deity's perfect gaze. "Not even gods' emotions are spared when love nests in the hearts of two beings."

Vaughn was taken aback. He vaguely recalled how the story ended for the Harvest Goddess and Chelsea's father – the goddess had watched as the love of her immortal life fell for a mortal woman. The whole time, Vaughn held a cynical theory that the Harvest Goddess was taking revenge on the lovers by killing them and sending their blissfully ignorant child into the cruel world. However, the goddess was being oddly serious for such a whimsical deity. Vaughn didn't doubt for a second that the Harvest Goddess could have torn Chelsea's parents apart; obliterate the love between them with treachery and deceit.

But she hadn't.

Maybe, just maybe, the goddess promised to ensure bright futures for the children of the two mortals as a sign of acceptance. Maybe, the goddess put Chelsea on the islands to let her grow as a person and to watch over her like an adopted mother (albeit an ineffective one). After all, Chelsea was the only reminder of her father the goddess had.

"Go on then, shoo!" The goddess made pushing movements with her hands.

Vaughn, at a loss of what to say, the fight drained from him, walked away.

/

After taking the motorboat back to Verdure Island and apologizing to Kirk, Vaughn found Chelsea strolling along the beach.

"Chelsea," Vaughn caught up to her, "I have something to tell you."

The farmer looked surprised at his sudden energy. "Hm? What is it?"

"I'm done hiding our relationship – I'm sorry I made you keep it quiet." He said quickly. The goddess' words made him realize that he'd been selfish to keep what they'd had a secret because some people (or deities) never got a chance to express their feelings.

"Don't worry about it," Chelsea murmured, "it's not like we'd be able to keep it down in such a small community."

/

"Yo, Vaughn!" A familiar, irritatingly cheerful male voice greeted. Vaughn looked up from his lunch of cold porridge to see Denny smiling at him.

"Er, hey. You need something?" He tried to sound as friendly as he could.

Denny pulled up a chair and leaned in close, like a conspirator planning a coup. "So I have this grand plan, and I think you're ready to be involved."

This put Vaughn on edge. "What are you talking about?" Surely the fisherman was talking about something unimportant. However, when Denny whispered his "grand plan" into his ear, it made Vaughn's stomach drop.

"Whaddaya say? You in?"

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I am! C'mon, it'd be perfect."

"Okay, I'm in." Vaughn said with such certainty that made him finally understand what the goddess meant.

/

** A/N: What did you think? Honestly, I dig the Harvest Goddess thing, but that's just me. I know it's short, and with the story coming to an end soon, this chapter is a big stepping-stone. Anyway, see you guys next chapter!**


	28. Chapter 28

Vaughn thought Denny's plan was sickeningly cute, but it fit the nature of the islands so well. As endearing as "the plan" was, Vaughn couldn't refer to it by any other name. An excited nervousness had lodged itself in his gut and refused to dissipate. It didn't help that the other men had prepared for the plan a long while ago. Vaughn hadn't known they were going to execute said plan months ago, and it had been his fault it was set back.

To make things harder and more complex than Vaughn would have liked, Chen had run out of the…item Vaughn required. He couldn't bring himself to think of the name of said item as it unsettled him in a way he had never been unsettled before. It was stupid, he knew, but he blamed it on being somewhat emotionally stunted. Okay, so that was a pathetic excuse for his uneasiness, but still.

Whatever the case, Vaughn still had a problem: where was he to obtain the item required for Denny's "amazing" plan?

Looking around Verdure Island, Vaughn only saw seabirds and some blandly colored indigenous species of bird. Even Animal Island had only sparrows to populate its airspace. To go back to the city was too long a wait, Denny had declared. Vaughn didn't understand the fisherman's reasoning in the slightest, but grumbling about it wouldn't help (this time).

There was only one person in all the Sunshine Islands who would know where to find a blue-colored bird. Vaughn was glad for once in his life that he'd made an effort to build a friendship with said person…

/

Mushroom Island looked no different from usual – three towering mushrooms and clusters of smaller ones hidden in the cool shade of the larger caps, soft green grass, and a tent made of animal skins in the far right portion of the island. Vaughn looked about for the fierce-looking but kind-hearted man who lived off the land.

"Vaughn!" Shea appeared from a bush, a big smile on his face.

Vaughn started, but regained his composure quickly. "Hello, Shea." He said as nicely as he could.

"Long time no see!" the native observed, a little sadness in his tone. Vaughn realized that he hadn't seen Shea since the peace ceremony, and he felt guilty.

"Yeah…hey, your speaking is better."

Shea nodded happily. "Chelsea comes sometimes, but not for a long time." Vaughn saw Shea's eyes focus as he spoke, making an effort to piece his sentences together. Learning another language was hard, that was for sure.

He knew that Chelsea hadn't visited Shea for a while because of the mess Mark had made. It must have been lonely for Shea, who seemed to delight in conversations about hunting and other light topics.

"Vaughn! You and me – talk story!" Shea led him over to the small fire pit with smoothed over logs for seats. Vaughn had to admit that Shea wasn't nearly as savage as many people would assume, nor was Shea stupid or uneducated.

"Sure." The least Vaughn could do before asking a favor was have a decent discussion with a friend, even though he wasn't loquacious by nature.

/

For hours, Vaughn updated Shea on the current events on the main islands. He did not get why Shea had wanted to know, but he complied. The whole time, Shea was enthralled by the surprising (though Vaughn had seen it coming) turn of events.

"Mark left?" Shea frowned. He'd considered Mark a friend, Vaughn knew, and Shea's friend count was back down to two.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. Chelsea and I will visit you. Hey, maybe you could go to the main islands? Everyone would welcome you." His offer sounded half-hearted. _I am not good at this whole "friendly dialogue" stuff. _Vaughn thought hopelessly. "Anyway, I was wondering if you know where I can find a bird with blue feathers."

Shea's eyes sparked with knowledge. "Yes!" he nodded, and then frowned. "But it is tricky. There is only one bird with blue feathers here – it is very smart. I cannot hunt it." He added a tad sadly.

The little speck of optimism Vaughn had was squashed with Shea's words. "What do you mean?"

"It is tradition to catch the bird and take one feather from it to give to your lover. But Wada told me it tests you." Shea trailed off, as if trying to imagine how an animal might posses such a power. "Why do you want it?"

Vaughn felt his face heat up. "I need to give it to someone."

"Who?" the other man asked, though his expression said he knew the answer.

"Chelsea."

Shea clapped his hands and grinned. "Wonderful! How do you say…congratulations?"

"Yeah, that's the word. She doesn't know yet – I have to ask her." Vaughn said hastily, not wanting to think about it too much.

"I will keep my mouth shut up." Shea promised.

"It's actually – never mind," He couldn't bring himself to correct Shea.

"We go to find the bird now." Shea stood and motioned for Vaughn to do the same. He started off towards the trees at the back of the island. "It is not hard to find, just to catch." He explained half-absently, looking all over.

Vaughn followed, understanding that such an animal would not be hard to locate, seeing as the trees were few and far between. As if on cue, a bird the size of a small falcon flew up from the trees. Its feathers were a rich royal blue, and if Vaughn's eye were not deceiving him, seemed to glint in the sunlight.

"There!" Shea reached into his pouch and pulled out a little wooden bowl filled with something very viscous-looking.

"What's that for?"

"To trap it." Said his companion.

"How is that going to work?"

Shea didn't give a verbal reply, instead going to work slathering the mixture onto a low-hanging branch. From where he stood, Vaughn caught a whiff of the paste, which smelled sweet, like honey or flowers.

The bird circled overhead, prompting Shea to tug Vaughn out of the way. They crouched behind a bush, which didn't seem like much cover. Nonetheless, the bird descended and perched on the slicked branch. Immediately, it was stuck to the wood and began squawking furiously and flapping its wings in a flurry of cerulean blurs.

"What do we do now?" Vaughn whispered.

Shea nudged him. "Go and take a feather."

He saw that Shea had no intention of moving; he was on his own. While Vaughn liked all animals, approaching the angry mass of talons and feathers was suddenly unappealing. _I'm doing this for Chelsea. _With a deep breath, Vaughn took soft steps towards the bird.

"Shh, I won't hurt you." He said as soothingly as he could manage. It normally worked with cows and sheep. The bird stopped flailing and regarded him with beady black eyes. Vaughn glanced back at his friend, silently inquiring his next move.

"Go!" Shea made a shooing gesture.

Vaughn groaned inwardly and tentatively reached for a tail feather. The bird shrieked, a high, piercing cry that shook Vaughn to his core. "Wha," the bird was staring into his eyes, and a flash of emotion passed through its knowing eyes. Something about that look was very familiar. _This is not possible - animals don't have magic abilities! _Vaughn thought, likely trying to convince himself more than anything else.

After what seemed like an eternity, the bird settled down and looked at him expectantly. Vaughn took it as a sign to take a feather. He gently plucked a feather from its tail.

"Hurray!" Shea emerged from his hiding spot and slapped Vaughn on the back, winding him.

"Ack!" Vaughn gasped for air, and fumbled with the long, fluffy feather.

"Now we let the sacred bird go." Once more, Shea reached into his pouch and brought out a water skin. He proceeded to wash the creature's clawed feet.

After the rinsing was done, the azure bird ruffled its feathers and gave what seemed like a nod to Vaughn before taking off and disappearing off into the trees.

"Did you say the bird was _sacred_?"

Shea grinned. "Yes! Did I not tell you?"

"Not that part…ah, well I have what I need." He sighed heavily, the feather felt weighty in his hand. That was the easy part – now he had to go through with Denny's plan.

"I wish you luck!"

"I have one question: why is that bird so special?"

"Wada said that a special woman – wait, what was the word Chelsea told me? Ah! A goddess – that's it!" Shea paused. "Yes, a goddess with green hair, like grass. That bird is her pet, I think."

Vaughn's stomach dropped. The Harvest Goddess? She had mentioned she was also the goddess of romance… He looked at the magnificent feather, and thought of the intelligence he had seen in the bird's eyes. Well, if there was one thing Vaughn learned from spending time on the islands, it was that if there were such things as deities, then far be it from him to say what was and wasn't possible.

/

With the feather safely tucked into his vest, Vaughn could continue with the plan. He said his farewell to Shea, feeling more and more confident as he went. The sun had long past its highest point and the fading light began to dye the ocean with robust shades of golds and reds. Soon, the stars would appear and the sea would be dark blue and black, reflecting the light of the heavenly bodies above.

With every passing second, a new confidence replaced the uneasiness in Vaughn's belly. As he strode onto the shore of Verdure Island, he felt like a new man. He scanned the area for a certain cheerful, brown haired blue-eyed rancher. Catching sight of her, he called her name.

"Chelsea!"

She turned and smiled when she saw it was him. "Hi, Vaughn!"

"Let's go back to your farm; I have something to talk to you about." Vaughn said as smoothly as he could manage before losing his brand new sense of self-assurance.

Chelsea seemed puzzled, but she nodded. "That sounds good. Hey, I haven't seen you all day. I only get you for two days out of the week." She feigned annoyance, but then, Chelsea wasn't the possessive or overly clingy type.

"Actually, I wanted to tell you about my little adventure with Shea."

"You saw Shea today? Now that I think about it, I haven't gone to see him in a while. How is he?" That was Chelsea all right, always thinking about others.

Vaughn was grateful for the convenient preface he had for the conversation. "He's fine – his speaking is a lot better."

"That's great!"

"Yeah, so, uh, shall we go?" Vaughn said, trying to remember the suggestion Will gave him for sounding like a "refined gentleman". _Refined gentleman my ass _Vaughn thought bitterly.

"Sure." Chelsea grinned and together they walked back towards her ranch.

Vaughn felt his heart beat go faster as he realized what he was going to do next. _No, I'm ready for this. _He reminded himself. He was going to carry out his part in Denny's grand scheme.

No. No more eluding the reality of things.

Vaughn loved Chelsea and he was going to propose to her at sundown.


	29. Chapter 29

**Ahh, okay, this story is in the home stretch now. I'm thinking about three more chapters and it'll be done. It's not for sure yet. Let's go on with the story. **

/

The sky was dark now, the stars winked in the midnight blue hue of the night. Vaughn and Chelsea had talked for some time, enjoying each other's company on the beach on Ranch Island, away from everyone else. For Vaughn, he had been waiting for precisely seven o' clock to propose. It was Denny's idea – all of the men would propose at once, and they would have a combined wedding (provided that their significant others accepted).

The nervousness in Vaughn's heart had long since settled as he prepared to ask the big question.

"Vaughn, can I ask you something?" Chelsea looked at him with a curious expression. Her big blue eyes always made Vaughn feel uncomfortable in a good way. It was weird, he knew – eyes were just eyes.

"Sure." A few more minutes and then he had to say his piece.

Chelsea took a breath. "Do you love me?" a little blush spread across her face.

That was blunt.

"Er, yes." He was taken aback, but he meant it. "Actually, that's why I,"

"Good," Chelsea dug around in her rucksack for something.

"Chelsea, I have something to ask you too." Vaughn fished for the blue feather in his vest.

"Will you marry me?" they asked at the same time. Both of them held blue feathers.

"This is embarrassing." Vaughn thought aloud.

Chelsea laughed. "I guess we're birds of a feather!"

"Nice pun. So…how should we go about this?"

"Well," she started, "you can accept my proposal."

That was smart. "Of course." He gingerly took the feather from her hands, and thought back to Chen's shop. Had Chelsea taken the last feather?

In turn, Chelsea took the feather he'd plucked from the Harvest Goddess' pet bird. "It's beautiful," she murmured, turning it in her fingers. "How did you get this one? It's different from all the others I've seen."

"You know how I said I visited Shea earlier?"

"Yeah."

"He helped me get it."

"So the other story you told me was a lie?"

"Kind of."

Chelsea nudged him on the arm. "You know, lying does not improve relationships." She said playfully.

Vaughn felt a smile turning the corners of his mouth. "Well it was gonna ruin the moment, though this was a surprising turn of events."

A piercing scream cut through the air. Vaughn moved to stand up, wondering if something had gone horribly wrong. Chelsea pulled him back down. "That's just Lanna's happy cry. You know how loud singers can be."

"I don't, but okay."

"You don't seem surprised…did you plan this?" Chelsea inquired triumphantly.

Vaughn rolled his eyes. "It was Denny's grand scheme. I know, I know, it's cheesy."

"I think it's sweet. So, tell me more about this 'grand scheme'."

And so, Vaughn regaled her with the not so elaborate plan Denny had come up with. He felt ridiculous as he repeated the exact words the fisherman used, but Chelsea was entertained nevertheless.

"So we're going to have a joint wedding?"

"Yes, if you're okay with it."

Chelsea smiled brightly. "Of course! They're my best friends; it's going to be a wonderful day."

"If you put it that way, I guess I can't complain." Vaughn shrugged. "Even if it's going to be the corniest wedding ever." He added with a smirk.

They spent a few minutes admiring their tokens of engagement and talking absently.

"Hey, Vaughn, tell me about the wedding plans."

"Pierre is going to do all of the cooking,"

"By himself?"

"Yeah. He's so picky about his craft. Let's see…Will's family agreed to do the arrangements for the dresses and suits, and the ceremony will be on Mystic Island."

Chelsea smiled warmly, twirling her blue feather between her calloused fingers. "Sounds nice and simple."

Vaughn snorted. "That's not what Lanna will say."

"I think she'll be happy either way."

/

For what seemed like an eternity, Vaughn enjoyed his time with Chelsea. It was strange how, despite his un-loquacious nature, Chelsea could entice words out of him.

Breaking the silence, Chelsea stood up and dusted herself off. "I want to show you something." She offered a hand and pulled him up.

"What is it?" Now his curiosity was piqued. What could it be?

Without replying, Chelsea led him back to her house. She turned to face him. "Okay, close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"I'm scared now."

"C'mon!" Chelsea stood on her tiptoes and reached for the kerchief around his neck. She succeeded in yanking it upward, not enough to obscure his eyesight, though.

Vaughn backed away, chuckling softly. "Okay, okay. My eyes are closed." He felt Chelsea's smaller, yet rough hands take his own. She gave a pull and he followed. He heard a light switch go off.

"Now you can look."

Vaughn's eyes burned a little at the sudden brightness, but he adjusted quickly. Chelsea's house looked more or less the same… except for the larger bed off in the corner!

"You were planning this for some time now." Vaughn observed aloud.

Chelsea grinned. "Well, yeah!"

It only occurred to him then that he would be living with Chelsea after they got married. It was stupid of him, because she sure wasn't about to move to the city into his cramped little apartment. Vaughn felt guilty for assuming that Chelsea would take care of everything.

"I'm still working on building a child's bed." The rancher said, almost to herself. "I'm thinking blue to match our bed."

"What? Oh, sure." And then there was the possibility that they would have kids. It was peculiar, though, because normally Vaughn would shudder at the mention of children, but when he thought about having kids with Chelsea, the idea didn't seem so awful. It would certainly be an experience either of them was accustomed to, but they would figure it out…but Vaughn would not mind if the kids came after a couple of years.

Chelsea turned to him, coming in close and wrapping her arms around his neck with a little difficulty. Vaughn felt his heart begin to beat faster at her touch. As he leaned down to meet her halfway, a knock shattered the ambiance.

"Chelsea, I have news!" Julia opened the door, a great big smile on her face. Her expression suddenly turned bashful when she saw what was going on.

"Hey, what's going," Natalie and the other couples flooded in after, and it got quiet.

Never in his life had Vaughn felt so embarrassed…and disappointed. Chelsea had jumped back a bit and stood next to him, face burning. However, she did slip her hand into his, giving him a gentle squeeze.

"Were we interrupting something here?" Julia gave them a suggestive look.

"Oh my Goddess! They've already got a bed and everything!" Lanna gasped excitedly, clapping her hands frantically.

Chelsea quickly cleared things up. "No, no, you guys didn't disrupt us. We were just celebrating; I'm guessing that's why you all came over?"

"Celebrating? Natalie, is this an innuendo in your language?" Lily asked.

The red head shrugged. "I dunno – maybe Chelsea here was about to consummate their marriage prematurely."

"Can we not talk about that right now?" Elliot blurted out, his face even redder than Chelsea's had been.

Denny nodded. "Yeah, you guys can get down and dirty later. Right now, we're going to party like no tomorrow! Come with us to the Diner!"

Glancing over at his now fiancée, Vaughn could see that she really wanted to go. As much as he wanted some alone time, he valued the company of their friends. The idea he had friends wasn't such an alien feeling to him anymore.

"Yeah, sure."

/

With Denny and Lanna in the lead, the happy newly betrothed couples made merry over dinner and a night of stargazing. There was much talk of the upcoming wedding and all the festivities such an event entailed.

Vaughn let Chelsea do most of the talking throughout the night, but he showed his support in his own way. Nothing mattered to him in those moments – not his past, not his own inhibitions – nothing. All that mattered was in front of him; his new home and his future wife, whom he was honored to call his best friend.

/

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a thousand years! Uh, okay, not a thousand years per se… With this story wrapping up, I thought I'd take it slow. I know this is a short one, but I don't want to drag it on and on. Review and let me know what you think! **


	30. Chapter 30

The dresses came in a few days before the wedding, along with some seamstresses from Will's home country. Chelsea rushed to take a shower after her morning work to get to the fitting in time. At least, as close to on time as she could get.

She knocked on the front door of what used to be Regis' mansion – now Will and Lily's home. Footsteps stopped behind the door and one onyx eye peeked from a closed curtain. The ornate antique door swung open only wide enough for Chelsea to squeeze in.

"Hey, Lily." Chelsea greeted, "what's with the secrecy?"

Lily shrugged. "The others told me it is a custom that the groom-to-be mustn't see his future bride in her wedding dress before the wedding."

"Oh yeah. I guess that's it." She laughed inwardly – it was such a silly ritual, but it did add an air of suspense for both parties. Now that she'd had a chance to get a good look at her friend, Chelsea noticed that Lily was wearing a sample-wedding gown. It looked _very_ expensive, to say the least. All silk and lace, she absently wondered if the little trim of sparkles near the chest and hem were made of crushed diamonds. "Wow, Lily, you look ready for the aisle."

The raven-haired woman rolled her eyes. "I do not understand why white is the color of weddings here. Are full, rich hues not satisfactory? I must admit, though, this is a finely crafted garment."

"I'm not sure why the color is white, either. Everyone knows I can't keep a white cloth white for very long." Chelsea scratched her head sheepishly. Her farm work was a down and dirty job – white things and dirt don't mix. "But I don't think anyone would look at you funny if you want to wear something else. It is _our _wedding."

Lily nodded her agreement. "Enough of my own thoughts on the matter – you ought to start sorting through the dresses. I swear, the amount of silk here rivals that of my family's treasure collection." Her friend muttered as she led the way into another room.

The "fitting room" was white washed with dozens of wedding gowns. Chelsea saw all of her friends being attended to by skilled seamstresses, who flitted around, quickly sticking pins here and there.

"Chelsea!" Lanna chirped, "Don't I look fabulous?" she was wearing a very glamorous white dress that fit her figure snugly and it looked somewhat like a mermaid's tail near the waist and feet. "Denny will drop when he sees this."

"I'm sure he will." Chelsea agreed.

"Do I have to wear a dress?" Came Natalie's voice. She looked positively uncomfortable standing on the little stool. "Can't I wear some nice pants and be done with it?"

Julia rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Nat, give in to your feminine side once in a while. We have to muck through _crap_ every single day. There's nothing wrong with dressing up once in a while…especially for your wedding to a world-class chef." The blonde was already wearing a stunningly form-fitting piece, accenting her chest and hips.

Natalie gave a snort of derision. "You'd better change into a tux, 'cause then we'll be able to tell who's who in _your _marriage!"

"This is your brother we're talking about! Say something nice for once!" Julia scolded the pink haired woman. "Besides, Elliot is man enough for me."

"Right. I bet you like calling the shots."

"That's not any of your business."

"I'll take that as an affirmative." Natalie smirked, silently daring anyone to say otherwise.

"Okay, okay, let's try not to trash talk each other's fiancées." Lanna supplied.

"I think Nat should wear whatever makes her feel beautiful." Chelsea said, "It would be a twist."

Julia smiled at her. "Always the diplomat."

After what seemed like hours of trying and rejecting various, expensive dresses, Chelsea found that she wasn't satisfied with any of them. Lily was right – white was an awfully drab color. She had always admired the brides in photos with their pure, snow-colored gowns, and sometimes imagined herself in one, but now she couldn't see it. With the pricey look came the constant fear of getting such a thing soiled.

Lanna and Julia had found their dream outfits, and spent most of their time trying to help Chelsea and the others decide. It was a hopeless endeavor.

"Time is running out, guys!" Lanna reminded them, "I guess it would work if you all went naked, since that's how I expect we'll end up in the end…"

Natalie guffawed, clutching her belly like it hurt. "Good point!"

"As much as I love all of you and think of you as family, there are some things that should be left unseen." Julia said, with a half-smile turning her lips.

A wave of heat washed over Chelsea. Lanna's statement made everything very _real_. She remembered the night of their bachelorette party, and what could have happened between Vaughn and her had their friends not interrupted them. That was something Chelsea would never admit that she had been genuinely disappointed about. Was it so wrong to have wanted to be alone that night?

"I've got an idea." Chelsea said suddenly. A flash of brilliance had decided to strike her at that moment. It was the answer to their wedding dress predicament.

/

"Dude, tuxedos suck." Denny muttered as one tailor made some temporary marks on his suit. "They're so suffocating – I think we should wear bathing suits to our wedding."

Will's face contorted into a mask of honest disbelief. "What? I've never heard of a wedding without the proper attire."

"Seriously? Man, you missed out on a lot of fun weddings."

Vaughn rolled his eyes. He was trying to be as patient as he could, allowing the helpers to adjust his own dark suit. He imagined Chelsea was there with him, which helped immensely with the inane comments Denny spouted out every other sentence.

"Finished." The tailor announced proudly, admiring his own work.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Vaughn almost didn't recognize his own reflection. He looked sharp; he'd give himself that.

There was a loud whistle from Denny. "Damn, you look _fine_! Chelsea's gonna be all over you!"

"Thanks," Vaughn said dryly.

"Ouch!" Elliot yelped as a seamstress poked a pin through one of his pant legs.

"She didn't even touch you, Elliot." Pierre put a hand to his head.

"Sorry," The peach-haired man muttered, "I guess that was preemptive."

This was going to be a _long _fitting.

/

Having solved the great dress dilemma, the women decided they deserved a large lunch. Soon, the largest table at the Diner was laid out with nearly every dish served there. Steak, stew, grilled fish, steamed vegetables, salads, sandwiches – the whole menu!

"Hey, this looks like the fish I caught the other day." Lanna poked at a big tuna on the table. She was clearly pleased her catch was being put to good use.

Chelsea said nothing when she recognized the vegetables from a previous harvest sat steaming on a place mat. She was always curious to see if they turned out well.

"I think we're ready now – why don't we speed things along?" Lanna went on. The blonde singer had this energy about her – an excitement that refused to fade.

Nat made a noise in the back of her throat. "Hey now, Pierre needs time to prepare the food. He'll throw a fit if we bump the wedding up. And I mean a full blown fit, like he's trying to crap a cow out."

"That is…pleasant." Lily offered charitably.

"Yep, but he's the little anal chef I love."

Excited chatter ensued, sometimes throwing out images of their wedding day, sometimes satirizing it. It was all in good humor – but Chelsea had a feeling any one of their projected "parodies" was entirely possible. Knowing her friends, it could happen, and she knew no one would really mind.

/

Vaughn was exhausted. Who knew trying on clothes was so difficult? He bet that Chelsea and the other women had an easy time since they didn't have Julia's whiney fiancée with them, yelping with every adjustment.

He trudged to the animal shop to finish clearing out his room there, which would become his future niece or nephew's bedroom. Unless something unexpected happened, Vaughn was absolutely certain his cousin was going to have kids – Julia loved children. Vaughn had nearly emptied his apartment back on the mainland save for some clothes, extra toiletries, and sheets. Chelsea had wanted him to live full-time in the islands, but Vaughn didn't trust some of the employees who he worked with (occasionally). They didn't know the animals like he did.

"Vaughn, dear, you're done already?" Aunt Mirabelle asked as soon as he'd walked through the door. She was just finishing wrapping up a box full of his things.

"Yeah," He replied. Vaughn strode to the newly packed container and hefted it onto his shoulder. "This the last of it?"

"It is." Aunt Mirabelle beamed at him. "I'm so happy you've found someone you love."

His heart fluttered wildly in his chest. "Hey now, it's not that big of a deal."

"Maybe not the biggest event to come, but it sure is life changing; you have to admit that."

Vaughn felt his mouth betray him in a slight curve. He headed for the door, with the last of his stuff. "Thanks, Aunt Mirabelle."

/

Chelsea had dozed off on the couch in the living room. The sound of the front door opening alerted her to someone's presence. Lucky didn't react, and Jade was snoozing contently on Chelsea's belly.

"Chelsea, you home?" It was Vaughn.

She lifted Jade off of her, ignoring the angry mewls of protest from the small cat. "Did you bring more of your things?" She met her fiancée in the kitchen. He looked weary, but good-natured.

"Yeah." He set a large cardboard box on the kitchen counter. "It's just some clothes. We have room, right?"

Chelsea nodded. "We do. So how was the fitting?" She made herself comfortable at the dinner table.

Vaughn heaved a sigh and joined her. "Chaotic. Let's just say some of us guys aren't meant for high-society clothes."

"Same here." She agreed with that statement whole-heartedly. "But we figured things out."

"Hang on, don't couples usually coordinate some sort of color scheme or something?" Vaughn tilted his head to one side.

"Usually, but Will's given us the opportunity to choose clothes from all over the world. It would be a problem if we couldn't agree on what to wear. Then we might as well go naked." Chelsea said in a matter of fact tone. She was doing her best to shift the topic of their conversation. Her choice of attire for the wedding was to be an absolute secret.

A strange look crept onto her fiancee's face. "That sounds like something Denny said today."

"Lanna said that too." There was a pause before both of them erupted into laughter. "Some people just get along, huh?"

"Yeah. Some people just do."


	31. Chapter 31

Chelsea woke up on her wedding morning feeling like she was soaring. Her heart fluttered excitedly in her chest. Yes, at three in the morning, Chelsea was bursting with the energy of a child. It was a chilly spring morning; the perfect start for the perfect wedding.

She snuck from the farmhouse while Vaughn was still asleep to take care of her farm work. An hour and a half later, she took a quick shower – in record time! With a fond glance back at the bedroom, she departed for Will and Lily's mansion.

It was five by the time Chelsea walked to the luxurious home (her pace was slow as she had her hastily made breakfast in hand). She swiped at her mouth before knocking on the door. Before anyone could answer, a very sleepy, very befuddled Will was goaded out of the house.

"Lily, wha,"

"Go, go! It's bad fortune to see the bride in her gown before the ceremony!"

"Very well," The blonde prince muttered. As he passed Chelsea on his way out, he did a slight bow. "A blissful morning to you, milady." He greeted with half-lidded eyes.

Chelsea suppressed a grin and patted her friend on the back. "Cheer up – it's your wedding day!"

As the gentleman strode off, he mumbled things about common folk and the early morning.

"What are you waiting for? Come on in!" Lanna's voice carried from the second floor.

"Hush!" Lily hissed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. You all shouldn't rush the bride on her wedding day." Chelsea joked as she entered the mansion. It was dimly lit; no doubt for the sleep-filled eyes of the tired women occupying it for the time being. Julia was having some trouble in the kitchen, as always.

"Oh, hell no! I don't care how tired I am, you are _not _making the coffee!" Natalie snapped as she swiped the coffee filters from the blonde.

"Coffee is simple! I can make it." Julia argued indignantly. She meant well, but Chelsea sincerely hoped Natalie would prevail in deterring her from being in the kitchen. Any other day would have been fine to practice cooking…but not their collective wedding day.

"For as long as I've known you, you've never made an edible dish." The red head said.

"Julia, let Nat make the coffee so I can wake up," Lanna moaned dramatically from her spot on the couch. The singer was still dressed in her designer pajamas, yet her hair was immaculate. Huh.

Julia looked around the room for support – she didn't get any. "Fine, whatever."

"Why don't you just drink tea?" Lily asked as she poured herself a cup of said drink. "It's better for you."

"No offense, but I don't like straight tea, and the kind you drink doesn't mix well with milk or sugar." Lanna said apologetically.

Lily shrugged indifferently and sipped her tea. Chelsea would never understand how the foreign woman could stay so calm in the midst of the coffee drama. Okay, well, Lily hadn't cared either way who made the coffee since she had tea. But still.

A few minutes later, Natalie finished making coffee and passed out the fancy porcelain mugs that were in Will and Lily's cupboard. Chelsea accepted her cup gratefully and proceeded to add milk and sugar to her brew.

When everyone was properly caffeinated with either coffee or tea, the mood lightened considerably.

"Makeup time!" Lanna declared elatedly. She hefted a huge, pink briefcase. Show business had its perks, Chelsea thought.

/

The men gathered at Vaughn and Chelsea's ranch house to prepare for the ceremony. It was the second biggest house in the archipelago. At least it was a familiar environment, Vaughn conceded.

Vaughn straightened his tie and sighed. Why were formal clothes so damned itchy? How could Will wear this crap every day? These were questions that he would never understand the answers to. He put his hat on and suddenly; his predicament didn't seem so bad.

"Ah-ah!" Will came from behind and took Vaughn's beloved hat. It took every ounce of self-control to keep himself from punching the prince's flawless face. "You're getting married, not going to a rodeo."

"Chelsea doesn't care if I wear this," He argued, eyeing his favorite item of clothing.

"She may not say it aloud, but imagine her disappointment when she looks at her wedding photos and sees that her husband wouldn't even remove his hat for the sake of a memory!"

Vaughn felt his eye twitch, but if it made Chelsea happy…

"Give me that," He snatched his prized possession and put it on the bed.

Will gave him a tight smile. "That's more like it."

Withholding his barrage of cuss words, Vaughn adjusted his suit one more time. "Can we get on with this?"

"Hold on!" Pierre snapped from across the room. "I need to run through my checklist first."

"Then meet us there. It's not that big a deal." Vaughn suggested. Honestly, he didn't get why the people on the islands liked doing things together. Teamwork was fine and dandy, but this was just excessive. Especially that Elliot guy who was about to marry Julia. Vaughn wondered what his cousin say in a wimp like Elliot, but he would never say anything about it; that was their business. He didn't meddle in other people's business.

"It won't take very long." Pierre answered irritably while trying to get his bowtie _just _so."

"Right."

/

The men risked cake and tuxedo loading the heaping plates of food onto Kirk's little motorboat and ferrying it to Mystic Island. It took three trips to finish, but Vaughn was in awe since not a crumb of food got on anyone's clothes. On the third trip, the group stayed on the island that would be their wedding destination.

"Tell me again – why did we change _before _doing this?" In hindsight, Vaughn should have spoken up earlier.

"I dunno." Came Denny's brilliant reply.

All activity stopped. "Now that you mention it…I'm not sure." Pierre looked like his head would blow up if he thought any harder.

"Goddess damn it!" Vaughn swore, and a fish jumped out of the Goddess' pond, its trajectory set for his slacks. He sidestepped the missile with a glare at the small pool of water.

"What was that?" The others inquired simultaneously.

"Nothing. C'mon they'll be here soon." The other guys looked at one another before shrugging and going on with the required work.

/

If Vaughn thought wearing his wedding clothes while setting up was a bad idea before, then he thought it was a downright awful after. His coat was black, thankfully, but his white dress shirt had a few smudges of spilled food. Pierre had really piled the plates high. Vaughn wasn't alone, though. Only Will had managed to come out of the ordeal unscathed. Go figure.

"Screw it, man, I'm takin' this off!" Denny all but tore off his coat, which was similar to a captain's garb. How fitting it could have been. Vaughn wanted to follow suit, but what if Chelsea came all dressed up and he ruined their wedding day? It shouldn't be a big deal, but it looked like everyone else was making it a damned mountain!

"They're coming!" Pierre called out, pointing at the approaching speedboat.

Will clapped his hands. "Places!" They scrambled into place.

Vaughn's heart throbbed and kicked in his chest. He was nervous and anxious and excited all at once. If he'd had his beloved hat, he'd have already tipped it to cover his eyes. But he didn't have the damn hat. Maybe it was a good thing so he _couldn't _hide. All of them were in it together, he chanted inwardly. They were all making big commitments because they were ready to. Deep breaths…

It was hard to take deep breaths when he saw what their wives-to-be were wearing.

The group of five women linked arms and walked down the grassy aisle. Lily's dress was red – and it looked like the color had been put there via a bloody massacre, Julia's dress was cut short and jagged at the bottom, Lanna had bejeweled her gown perfectly – only her gown wasn't a gown anymore – it was a wedding bikini. Natalie had transformed her dress into a pair of frilly trousers and a blouse. And Chelsea…her dress was covered in mud; as was part of her face. She was wearing her usual red boots and her hair was messy with some straws of hay poking out. Her bright blue eyes widened in surprise when she met Vaughn's gaze.

Maybe a normal wedding party with normal participants would have been appalled. But Vaughn learned a long time ago that the residents of the Sunshine Islands were far from normal. Even the tiny audience mainly composed of Natalie and Elliot's family only seemed amused.

"YEAH!" Denny threw off the rest of his formal attire, leaving him in his boxer shorts with little anchors all over them.

A long silence followed the fisherman's outburst.

Finally, Chelsea broke away from the others as they all separated to go to their respective grooms. She looked up at him with a sunny grin.

"Hey," She whispered.

"Uh, hey." Vaughn had a few questions, but didn't know where to begin.

"You look different." Chelsea observed mildly, tapping a finger on her chin. "I've got it," She quickly took off what Vaughn had thought was a string necklace. It was a thread tied to his hat. She rose up onto the balls of her feet to put the headpiece in its proper place.

The little gesture meant the world to Vaughn. "Thanks." It felt like the natural order of things had been set right once more.

Nathan, the priest, began reciting the first lines of the wedding ceremony, saying each couple's names in turn. Vaughn hardly paid him any attention – he had vows to remember! He was getting nervous; he was so worried that he might screw up and forget to say something.

Like a revenge shot from the Harvest Goddess, Nathan chugged the ceremony along. "Now, the grooms will speak any vows they have." Damn.

Vaughn swallowed hard and looked Chelsea square in the eyes. "You know I'm not very good at this, but here I go. I love you, Chelsea. You've helped me see that life isn't one big mess. You helped me get over my grief and strengthened my bond with my family. I know that I've been a jerk for most of the time we've known each other, but I promise I'll never hurt you. I'll support you through thick and thin and you'll never need to worry about anything." He took a deep breath. "Crap. What came after that?" He might have died of shame right then and there, but he realized Chelsea was tearing up, but grinning.

She wiped the moisture from her eyes, giggling softly as she did so. "You prepared vows! Now I feel bad for not doing the same."

"Huh?" Vaughn was sure Chelsea would have done that sort of thing.

The rancher looked away guiltily. "I thought it would make you uncomfortable, so I didn't prepare anything." Maybe Vaughn might have been embarrassed to say his spiel to find out it hadn't been necessary, but he found himself smiling at the irony of the situation.

"It's fine."

"Anyway, all I really wanted to say to you is that I love you. I know we'll be together for a long time. We'll have a happy home surrounded by our best friends." Chelsea finished her improvised vows and they glanced to each side to see their friends gazing into his or her almost-spouses' eyes. Except for Lanna and Denny, who skipped ahead to the "kiss the bride" bit. They were lip-locked and weren't about to stop.

Nathan cleared his throat. "The vows are complete. Now, are there any objections?" No one stood. "Then you may kiss the bride if you haven't already."

Vaughn turned his head back to Chelsea, but she was one step ahead. Her arms circled his neck and she pulled him down to kiss him unabashedly. When they parted, Chelsea's face was pink; his own mug must have looked the same.

The bell next to the little church began ringing of its own accord, sending enchanting notes into the air that resonated deep in Vaughn's being. The other couples seemed to feel the same way as they all smiled knowingly. Next to the bell stand, he could see the Harvest Goddess standing next to it, her gaze trained in his and Chelsea's direction. On further observation, the deity looked as if she was looking both beyond them and within her own mind, a beatific smile spread across her lips. Vaughn couldn't tell what the spirit was thinking.

"Do you see her too?" Chelsea whispered.

"Yeah. I wonder what she's thinking."

"It looks like she's remembering something. It's none of our business. C'mon, let's eat some cake."

/

Chelsea let the celebration sweep her off her feet. They sang, danced, and ate. The memory of their unorthodox wedding attire would never be forgotten. Even the fact that she was married hadn't fully sunken in. She just enjoyed each moment of the experience. Had someone told her that she'd get married a few years before, Chelsea would have laughed it off, believing that she would never be able to achieve the same happiness her parents had had. That was the wrong way to think – she learned that she would never be able to recreate her childhood.

After hours of festivities, the party wound down and everyone parted ways to go home. The sun had long since sunk beyond the horizon. Chelsea wanted nothing more than to clean the caked mud off her body. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go with the "farm" theme for her dress. Too late.

She stopped outside of the ranch house, turning to face her new husband. "You know, I'm so glad we met."

Vaughn's violet eyes were able to express the feelings his face was reluctant to. "Yeah. Me too."

"It's funny how things work out, huh?"

"Mmmm,"

"It'll be an interesting story to tell our kids."

"Yeah…wait, what? Already?" Vaughn's face turned bright red. He shifted from foot to foot awkwardly.

Chelsea shook her head. Did he think she was _that _naïve? She grabbed his hand and opened the door. "We'd better get a head start on the others if we want all our kids' birthdays to be around the same time!"

/

**Epilogue**

/

"Lillian, get back here! You'll get caught in a big wave and Daddy won't be able to get to you in time!" Chelsea watched as Vaughn chased their tenacious little girl into the shallow surf.

"Oh, come off it, honey. Lillian loves swimming." She ventured to join them at the water's edge. Chelsea could tell that even at such an early age, Lillian was destined to leave the archipelago. The tot was always looking back towards the mainland, asking questions about the bigger world from when she could speak.

Vaughn was a great father. He had been terrified when their daughter was an infant, but grew out of it quickly. "I know…I can't help it." He grumbled back.

Lillian's purple-gray eyes fixed on the distance. It was strange how evenly she had taken after the both of them; she had hair a shade or two lighter than Chelsea's. "Mommy, Daddy, you guys came from that way?"

"Yep!" Chelsea answered cheerily.

"I wanna go there one day."

A flash of green appeared close by. Lillian was too distracted to see, but Chelsea noticed. The Harvest Goddess stood there, looking at them with a wistful expression Chelsea had only seen once before. She just smiled back.

"Mommy, who's that lady?" Her child must have realized something was happening.

"You'll meet her soon enough."

Vaughn made a groaning noise. "Hopefully not too soon."

"Be nice."

"I don't get it!" Lillian pouted, splashing water everywhere. "Let's play!"

And they played and played until the sun went down and they were salty enough to make dried fish. They ate dinner with their big extended family, joking, laughing, and everything in between.

Life couldn't have been better.

/

**And that's the end of it…I know I promised more, but I think this was good place to stop. I vowed to follow through to the end and I did. This was my first fic, and to be honest, it didn't turn out as planned. It doesn't have the most engaging plot, nor the most detailed language. If you enjoyed it, though, thank you. To all of you who were patient enough to read it through the end, thank you. Leave comments, PM me, and the like. See you in my other fics~**


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